Okay, so it's happening. Some of the things that I say sound suspiciously like what I heard as a child. In some cases, it's out of my mouth before I'm even aware of it.

My mom had a certain way of phrasing her expectations so that they sounded like she would never imagine that you would do...whatever you happen to be doing.

I'll call this practice, issuing the passive-aggressive threat.

An example, "I hope you two aren't jumping on the bed up there, after I told you how dangerous it is!" or "I'd hate to see you miss dessert when the rest of us will be having delicious cake". Let me tell you, after the confusion passed, the passive-aggressive threats worked.

My favorite was probably the sneak attack, which was quite effective in middle and high school. After avoiding whatever chore we were requested to do, mom would hit us with the, "You don't want to unload the dishwasher...that's fine, I'll remember that the next time you ask me for something". Chores done.

My oldest daughter recognizes this tactic, because I heard her say to her sister, "I guess you don't want to share my toy".

Even the youngest one understands the power of the passive-aggressive threat. When I asked her what she was doing behind the chair, she replied, "Not pooping", when clearly that was exactly what she was doing.