Dear Miss Manners

Recently I had a little scare with my four year old daughter. Here's the story...

One of a mother's worst predicaments is what to do with your child while you take a shower.

At first, when she is a baby, you head to Target (after 3 days of not showering for fear of leaving the baby for one second) to buy a clear shower curtain. Then you can set her in her car seat on the floor of the bathroom and still see that she is breathing while you bathe.

A few years down the line, she is content in her room playing where you know everything is safe and or bolted to the wall. She has not yet figured out how to climb over the baby gate that blocks her door, so off to the bathroom you go to shower without worry.

Four years old...by this time, most of the house is safe so she is usually fine watching TV or playing with her toys in her room and you rarely worry anymore. Until the day you have your head covered with shampoo and you hear your daughter SCREAM something from outside the bathroom. You jump out of the shower, suds everywhere, run into her room dripping wet, only to find her playing happily with her dolls. "Why did you scream?" you ask. "You sneezed, Mommy. I was saying bless you loud enough for you to hear me in the shower."

Now, tell me Miss Manners, do I punish her for screaming and scaring the @*#& out of me? Or do I thank her for being polite, and then rinse off?

....signed Bubbly, but Blessed