Gum

The rule in my house is that you have to be five years old before you are allowed to chew gum. I think that chewing gum requires a certain degree of responsibility, such as chewing your gum and not swallowing it, proper disposal of gum, and not letting gum leave your mouth unless it is leaving your mouth into a trash can.

My kids think I am a big "meanie" for this, but honestly I clean up enough of their "incidents" that I just don't want to add gum to the list of things I have to clean up, or rather unstick from surfaces it is not to be stuck to.

Yesterday in Sacrament meeting I was distracted for a moment, and somehow during that moment Katie managed to swipe a piece of gum and put it into her mouth. (I am still not clear if she swiped the gum from Lauren who was at the time getting her gum out, or if she conned the parents of the kid in front of us for the gum. I am thinking it was the kid in front because Katie's gum was a different color than the gum Lauren had.)

By the time my attention was directed back at Katie the gum was in her mouth and being chewed with full force. There was not a lot I could do at this point.....at least without creating an "incident" during sacrament meeting. So I told Katie to "KEEP THAT GUM IN YOUR MOUTH, and do not swallow it."

About 10 minutes later I noticed Katie was no longer happily smacking away on her gum. I asked Katie if she swallowed her gum. She said "no." Fearful that the gum was lurking somewhere either stuck to something or waiting to be stuck to something, I asked her where the gum was. She replied "in my stomach." Apparently she didn't want to cop to swallowing the gum, but she would admit to where it ended up.....