Our Easter weekend was pretty horrible: all four of us were sick somehow. Yesterday morning, we took our kids to the GP. When going over the medicine we had used, Kim burst out laughing. She couldn’t remember the English word “suppository”. I straight away knew why she was laughing.

That is because in Flanders, we informally call a suppository a “poepsnoep”—literally translated as a “sweetie for your bum”, and probably one of the biggest lies we tell our kids. We explained the context to our doctor, and it likely made her day; she was laughing pretty hard as well.

Dealing with sick kids while you’re sick yourself is one of the hardest parts of parenting. Finding these moments of laughter are important, and us using some random Dutch and Flemish words really can break patterns, especially when we suddenly need to find the “real” word in a serious context.

“Poepsnoep” is by far the funniest one we use, but our kids may be found using several other random words as well. Here are some of the words that Mila knows only by these names:

• “Stokbrood”: literally, “stick bread”, but in English known as “French loaf” or “baguette” (the latter, of course, just being the French word).
• “Tandensnoepje”: literally, “little teeth sweet”, not even a real Flemish word but something my mom made up, but a way to make us eating “fluoride tablets” more appealing.
• “Speculoos”: no translation, Lotus rebranded this typical Belgian cookie (not to be confused with the “speculaas” from the Netherlands) to “biscoff”. I refuse to use “Biscoff” in the home of our family.
• “Mondje leeg”: literally “little mouth empty”, quite a logical one: finish what’s in your mouth before taking another bite.
• “Op je poep”: Flemish (Dutch people would be confused as “poep” is their word for “poop”), literally “on your bum”. When the kids stand up on the couch or their chair, and we want to ask them to sit down.
• “In bad”: Kim has started saying to the kids that they’ll need to “go in bath” (transliteration, and poor English) rather than “take a bath”.
• “Kousenbroek”: Literally “sock pants”—and Mila will mostly use the English word—but in English mostly known as “stockings.
• “Spuitje”: Literally “syringe”, but also used for “injection”. So when we go for an immunisation, Mila’s going for a “spuitje”.

I may edit this post as I encounter more of these words and sayings.