warnings

You know how you can overuse a word and it starts to lose its meaning? For example, if you talk about how much you love ice cream or how much you love football, it might be slightly less impactful when you tell a person how much you love them.
I have a couple of phrases that I overuse but I'm not sure how else to get my point across. How else do you convey to a child that he shouldn't pull poop out of his pull-up and put it in the box fan except to say, "That's disgusting! We don't ever touch/do that!"? The problem is that the same phrase applies to dead animals, eating boogies,  and spitting on other people. And then you just end up feeling like you are saying it about everything.
Another one is "Don't eat that. It can make you really sick." That one runs the gamut from unidentified berries growing on neighborhood bushes to toothpaste. And finally, "Don't touch that! You could really get hurt," which seems to apply to 60% of our surroundings. And if you think that percentage is too high then I'm guessing that you have girls.
All of these phrases are used for a good purpose. I'm trying my best to keep my kids out of danger, to keep them healthy and to also keep them from forming some pretty gross habits.  But I'm worried that the frequency of use will start to diminish the effectiveness. I'm worried that we'll be at the park and the minute my back is turned they'll shove poison berries into their mouths because "Mommy said they can make you sick but we've eaten toothpaste and that hasn't made us sick yet."  
I figure all I can really do is continue to spout off my little warnings and do my best to stay vigilant. After that it's in God's hands.

photo by: rscottjones  http://www.flickr.com/photos/rscottjones/5735682652/