Mommy, What Does 'Give Him an Inch and He'll Take the Whole Foot' Mean?

Mommy, what does "give 'em an inch and they'll take the whole foot" mean?


Well, remember when we were at the beach and I was trying to get sunblock on you while your sister won't stop nagging to hurry up? I told her she can only get her feet wet and not to go any further. She went in and each time a wave hit she kept on going further in even though I was telling her to get back over here but I couldn't yell because there were other people around and I didn't want to look trashy by yelling. Then I had to run in there after her because she went all the in chasing a wave after I told her not to. Then like just like Murphy's Law a big wave comes in and knocks her down!

I told her to only go far enough to get her feet wet and what does she do? She runs all the way in like a lunatic and gets hit by a wave freaking out making me look like horrible mother. We left because I couldn't handle the shame of all those hypocritical eyes staring at me. Give your sister an inch and she'll take the whole foot! and usually ends up making me look bad.