MARK MY WORD: PARENTS FORCED TO FACE KID CHALLENGE

There are words and then there are those special words.

Take "challenged," for example. It was labeled as the most euphemistic at the American Dialect Society, which includes university professors and other language-loving folks who prefer English to bowling.

When I was growing up, people were blind or deaf. Today, they are sight-challenged or hearing-challenged.

As parents, Joni and I are kid-challenged daily and not in any euphemistic sense. My dictionary defines challenge as "the quality of requiring full use of one's abilities, energy or resources."

This clearly applies to parenthood.

Our daughter, Becca, had a great Christmas. But since she is 2, that means she received a ton of toys, Barbie dolls and other assorted items that now have spread like wildfire through our house.

Just picking up all the stuff is challenging. Fortunately, she got a big, blue tent for Christmas.

It's constructed for outdoor use, but right now it has a prominent spot in our living room and serves as The Great Toy Repository.

Every family should have one of these, particularly if you have an extended Barbie family complete with enough accessories to start your own boutique.

The only trouble is that I don't have a lock for it. What goes in the tent, Becca regularly removes with ease. This means that the tent is often empty, but the dining room floor is a toy junk yard.

Becca can't spell "challenge," but she knows how to pose one.

Frankly, she would be bored at a meeting of language professors unless they had plenty of Barbie dolls and watched "Cinderella" over and over again.

When it comes to language, my daughter has plenty of it, although none of it would merit attention from the word hounds.

The American Dialect Society picked "Gingrich," as in "I've been Gingriched" as the most utilitarian word of 1994. By altering tone and inflection, one can convey either support or disgust for the House speaker.

But from Becca's viewpoint and ours, the most utilitarian word is "no." As parents, we have to use it a lot. She doesn't always pay attention to it, but she knows the word.

Coupled with "way," Becca can communicate with anyone.

This nation talks about saying no to drugs. Becca says no when it comes to going to bed, getting dressed, or taking a bath.

"I want some chocolate milk," is one of her favorite sentences, along with any sentence that has the word "my" in it. "My Barbies" can constitute a whole train of thought.

The English aficionados who met recently in California fell in love with "dress-down day." The term, which refers to when workers can wear casual clothes, won in the category of trendiest expression. But to Becca, dress-down day is anytime that she decides to run naked through the house. This might be trendy with the 2-year-old set, but it would probably get you fired at the office.

And when it comes to trendy words for pre-schoolers, none can compare to "I want."

Still, words aren't everything. Forget the Dialect Society, a hug from Becca will do just fine.

~Mark Bliss is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.