I was wondering to the parents on this board, when was the first time you heard your own parent’s words come out of your mouth, when you were talking to your own kids?
And what were they?
I wasn’t talking to my kids, but the first time I set foot in a classroom as a sub, within 20 minutes I had to bite my tongue from saying “When I was a kid…”
I was 22. 
I don’t know how old I was, probably not more than 2, and the word was NO.
(we learn very early that this is the word of power and turn it back upon our overlords).
Other than that, probably several years ago when I first said to my bickering kids, “Don’t MAKE me come in there!” 
But I don’t sweat it…our parents were right. “NO” (you cannot do that/wear that out of the house/eat that/act that way under MY roof!), “Don’t MAKE me…” (turn this car around, come in there, release the flying monkeys, etc…).
As much as I hate to admit it, such parenting was actually a good thing in my life and has served me well as a parent (along with a degree of openness and tolerance and mutual respect, of course).
As I say when my kids say “MAKE ME!”… “I DID make you…I brought you into this world and I can take you out even easier!”. :mad:
I also don’t know how old I was, but babysitting did it for me. The first time I said, “Because I said so!” I thought I was going to have to look around the room to see if my mom was there.
My son was 4. “I’m going to count to 10 and if…”
Same here. I was babysitting, the kidlet was being bratty, and I opened my mouth, and “Because I said so, that’s why!” came out. In my mother’s voice.
Scary. Very scary.
I think I was 14 or so at the time and I was watching my youngest brother.
I was crying over something stupid (I don’t really remember but I’m assuming)
and I said to him, “Why are you crying? I’ll give you a reason to cry.”
My daughter was 12 going on 30, and attempted to go to school wearing entirely (to me) inappropriate garb for a 12 yo.
“Young Lady! You’re not leaving this house dressed like that”! Followed by an instant (damn, where’s the hand-slapped-to-the-mouth-in-abject-horror smilie when you need one?) hand-slapped-to-the-mouth-in-abject-horror!
(no, she did NOT leave that house dressed like that).
When the kids were still fairly young, 4 and 5 I think, their father moved about a couple hours away and I was still doing all the driving for visitation as he didn’t have a car. In response to yet another “Are we there yet” I pulled over to the shoulder and said in my fathers best intimidating voice. “Yep. Climb out we’re there.” That one I didn’t mind so much because it was effective and fairly entertaining. Unfortunately it seemed to open the door to many other less welcome voices coming out of my mouth.
I was arguing with my ex-husband about the state of our house at the time, and heard my mother’s voice coming out of my mouth while explaining to him that he wasn’t a child and I wasn’t going to pick up after him all the damn time.
I came in to say this same thing. I think I mentally apologized to the kid as soon as I said it.
I’ve almost said things to Mr. Horseshoe during an argument that my mother said to my father when they were arguing, and wow, did that shut me right up. (I immediately thought, “If my mother would have said this, then it’s Not The Right Thing To Say.”)
It’s like some fucked-up family heirloom:
“Son, your mother and I use these phrases when we argue. Now that you’re a grown-up, it’s time for you to say them to your wife, so that the circle of dysfunction life may continue. I’m sure someday you’ll pass these on to your son - he’ll be listening to you fight when you think he’s asleep.”
I’m not sure if I’m using the same words my parents did, but I’ve noticed that I’ve taken the exact same tones and inflections as my dad does when he’s explaining something.
I don’t have kids! I’m 26 and I’ve never found myself saying something my mom would have said to me (like “Because I said so” or “You’ll agree with me when you’re my age”). But then I still believe her controlling parenting style (and the way in which she relates to family in general) was/is terrible.
Oh gods, the first time I told my son that, I wanted to take myself out back and beat myself up. Then 14 years later, I got to hear it come out of my mouth for the first time again for my daughter. :smack:
Coming in second place is, “You’ll understand better when you’re older.” But dang it, it’s *true *sometimes!
I was invited to a group outing by a friend where she was the only person I knew. One of the guys there was handsome, made excellent money, and about as deep as a puddle of water. His funny stories all started with "this one time, I was so drunk . . . ". Then he went on a long winded tale of how how all the women he dated - whom he picked up at bars and were just barely legal to drink - only wanted him for his money and were really boring and didn’t read any books, and he really would like to be in a serious relationship with a total hottie.
I opened my mouth, and my mother spoke through me. “Have you considered dating a better caliber of women?”
Disturbing, I tell you. Very disturbing.
then your reasons for posting in this thread are… unclear, at best.
I think it was probably when my kids were around 2 and 4, and they were jumping on the couch and climbing up the back of it to jump off, etc. I told them they would not be satisfied until they broke their necks.
And IMO, there are some times when “Because I said so” is a perfectly good reason. I’m the parent and if I say for the hundredth time that no, you cannot watch your third straight hour of TV or whatever and I’ve tried explaining why and you see that as an opportunity to use your mad debating skillz…well, “because I said so” might be what we need to end the conversation.
You’re 100% right as a parent, but when you’re a wee little shaver, that makes no sense