Magic WordsBanned Words

My kids are in no way perfect, but I have to say that my kids are pretty good about using their manners.  They know when to say "please" or "thank you" and usually do so without being prompted. Why, just last night at dinner, I told Benjamin to finish his food and he very politely said, "No tank you."
I find that we now need to work on the forbidden words.

NO!! Not those kind of words.  Regular, everyday words that we just can't say around here. Some of these words refer to places: "park" or "Gaga's house" for example. Mention one of these words and inevitably someone runs to the door ready to go. I imagine this is what people laugh at their dogs for doing when they pick up a leash.
Some of the words are activity related. For example if you say "walk" or "bike" someone heads for the door expecting to take part in said activity.  Additionally, if you say "TV' they run to the couch and start arguing about what show to watch. Even if your comment is, "The TV is broken. What shall we do?"  All the kids heard was the word "TV."
The worst offenders are the food-related words.  The kids are allowed one piece of candy after dinner if they finish their dinner.  Benjamin rarely finishes his dinner, so he doesn't often get a piece of candy.  To limit strife, we are trying to limit the use of the word "candy" at our house.  A typical after-dinner conversation goes like this:

FJ: Mommy, I ate all my dinner. Can I have C-A-N-D-Y?

Me: Take your plate to the sink and go ahead.

HC: Mommy, I ate all my dinner. Can I have C-D-N-Y?

Me: {grinning} Yes, you can. Take your plate to the kitchen.

Problem is, Benjamin has caught on to what is going on and now after this exchange, he starts yelling, "I want canny! I want canny!!"

Other food related words are forbidden as well: ice cream, cracker, snack, goldfish, etc. They all start a war because for some reason my children believe that just by mentioning the word, the desired food will magically materialize in the kitchen.

FJ: Mom, do we have any popcorn?
Me: No, I forgot to buy some at the store.
HC: Popcorn?!?!
BA: I want hopcorn!!  Mommy, I want hopcorn!!
Me: We don't have popcorn, guys. I'm sorry!!
{children dissolve into miserable tears}

 So while we work on our manners and using nice words, we also work on not mentioning these banned words. It helps to alleviate some of the chaos in our house.

Who am I kidding!?! No it doesn't!!

This was an outtake from our photo shoot that I couldn't resist posting.