Yep!

Words are important.

I've always known that.  Words have an impact and they make a statement about who you are.

Long ago, Michael and I decided that we wanted to raise our children to be people who showed honor to others.  We have always required them to use "complete" words (like "yes," instead of "yeah").  It has always been a pet peeve of mine.  They have always done well with it.  I notice it in others.  When a person replies to me with a "yes," instead of "yeah," it tells me something about their character and who they are.  Especially when they don't give a one-word reply ("yes, thank you" or "yes, m'am" instead).

But we have gotten lax.  Severely.

You see, William never said yes.  He couldn't.  He always had a hard time with 's'.  We worked on it, but it was only at the very end of his life that he began to be able to say 's,' sometimes.  Somehow, his signature word became "YEP!"  (I'm really glad it wasn't "yeah," although I don't know how that happened).

As a family, we kind of played with him with "yep," responding to him in like manner.  It was just the cutest thing.  I loved his "yep!"  I miss that sound terribly.

But I've noticed that we've also gotten very lax regarding our speech.  Michael and I don't even notice when our children use words like "yeah" now.  But we're starting to move out of that fog and remember things again.

Training has begun.  😉

So if you notice any of us using a shortened form of "yes" or "no," by all means, correct us.  Please.  Unless it's "yep."  We're going to hang on to that one.