SALT LAKE CITY — Not too long ago (well, pre-pandemic), I was sitting on the sideline of my son's soccer game along with my 15-year-old daughter. When what to our wondering ears should appear but a slew of teenage boys engaging in meaningless conversation. With the ringleader speaking so loudly absurd, I knew at that moment, he was using that word.

Note: If you read that last part in Christmas story rhythm, you get 100 points because you recognize the importance of words in contextual settings. In other words, you understand that words have meaning in the sentences we use them in — and thus, we can continue our speaker-listener (writer-reader) relationship. If not, read on . . .

Every other word that the ringleader of the group was using at the soccer game that day, I kid you not, was a certain derogatory four-lettered word. It was as laughable as it was — well, laughable to hear that one word being used for so many different meanings. And if your ears have witnessed such a conversation, you know exactly what I mean.

How could "that" word mean that, that, that, that aaand THAT?

My early parenting self would have done all I could to shelter my daughter from such despicable language, but my more seasoned self has learned that a shelter is only as good as the foundation that it is built upon — a foundation of education.

"He keeps using that word. I don't think that word means what he thinks it means," I said in my best Inigo Montoya voice (#ThePrincessBride).

We both got a good laugh at my attempt at being funny. And, rather than moving away from the group of boys, we stayed put and listened as the meaningless word floated around the air, off into oblivion — because that's what happens to words that don't have any meaning. The offensive word did not grow in offensiveness; it instead shrunk down to mere noise and eventually a dullness of essentially nothing.

As a mother, I feel it is of utmost importance to teach my children that all words have meaning because words are how we communicate. I tell my children often that words are a tool to let the receiver understand what they mean.

My screaming toddlers don't get chocolate milk until they ask me nicely for it (and even then, the choice to give it to them is at my discretion). As frustrated as my little guys get with me, they know that this means they must say "please" followed by words of gratitude (if rewarded with the sugary beverage).

True story: Just last week my 7-year-old son decided he was not going to eat the dinner I had made for him, stating "It wasn't pleasing to my taste buds." While it was an odd way to put things, I may or may not have let him skip straight to dessert for his creative reasoning (a trick that will only be rewarded once).

Now, before you think I am anti-four-letter-word, think again. Even those words deemed by our English language to be "bad" do have use, within good reason. I have been known to let a word or two fly when it is necessary, because sometimes there is no better word to describe the situation.

That being said, if you can imagine a mild-mannered little blonde lady with the voice of a 12-year-old girl trying to get her point across while using a "choice word," it is as laughable as it is ... laughable. Due to the smirks I get whenever I try to cuss, you can be darn sure that more often than not I think of more effective means to get my point across.

And this, my friend, is my point exactly.

To conclude, I offer you prose: In the comments section, please describe your most frustrating moment as a parent of a toddler, using your best words. Ready, set, go!

More from Arianne Brown:

Sometimes it's best to let sibling fights resolve themselves

During a recent argument between two of my older sons that turned physical (with unkind words to match), I inserted myself into the situation in an effort to diffuse the situation. I left that encounter with a newfound lesson: sometimes it's best to let sibling fights resolve themselves.

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