I heard of a perfect example of this a couple of weeks ago. A friend of mine was in a flurry of morning activity one day when she realized the button on her three-year-old's pants needed mending. Without thinking, she dropped her son's clean shirt into his hands and told him to put it on. Then as she was walking away form him, she told him that his button was loose, and when she sewed it back on, she would bring his pants to him.

At this hurried comment, the three-year-old's eyes popped wide open, he let out a gasp and with his chubby little hand he frantically grabbed hold of his butt. As he looked up at his mother, panic was etched across his face.

His mother, sensing what the child was thinking, tried to assure the poor child that it was not his butt that was loose, but rather the button on his pants that was hanging off. She held the pants up in front of his face and showed him the lose button.

After staring at the loose button for a couple of seconds, relief creeped across the child's face. His mother, although extremely tickled about the misunderstanding, said she realized how important it is to communicate to her son in a way that he can understand.