Saturday, April 23, 2005

The One With Cursing In It

Ok, so I contemplated not posting this because my folks read this blog, and this is the *last* thing my mother would want to hear. She is totally and completely against cursing in all its forms. Cursing is forbidden at her house, even from adults. In fact, when my sister and I were kids, she forbade my uncle, her brother, from coming over until her could control his fiery language. So a post like this one is going to be tough for her to read, but I hope she can either skip it or take it like the brave soul she is.

Princess has been picking up every word she hears (I guess you can already see where this is going). She is now in the habit of watching our mouths and trying to replicate the words. Its great. Its amazing to watch. But.

The other night, Hub came home from a particularly hard day at work. He sat down on the couch and sighed, "oh f%*k" as he stretched. Princess hears this and thinks, hm, new words! And she proceeds to exclaim with great clarity, "oh f%*k!" at which point we don't know whether to hide in shame or die of laughter. We picked laughter, because hearing the f-bomb come out of this little angel's mouth was just funny (sorry, mom, but it was). We turned away from her and stifled the sounds of our laughter so as not to encourage her.

No need for encouragement here, people. She proceeded to rip off about 6 or 7 "oh f%*k"'s in a row. My laughter was now turning to horror; I could not believe this phrase was going to stick. So far in our vocabulary, we have mama, daddy, Gypsy, and "oh f%*k". Lovely.

We both walked out of the room and made a pledge - not one more curse in the house. From anyone. Luckily, the Big One didn't stick and she hasn't said it since. And neither has anyone else.

23 comments:

kenju said...

Oh, yeah, babies will do that every time you say curse words! They will go to school and tell about the fight you had with Daddy and what you said. It is so embarrassing. My son's kindergarden teacher once told me:
"If you don't want me to know about it - don't do it or say it."

Michele sent me!

J&J's Mom said...

Ah! I've had the "Shit,shit shitty shit, shit SHIIIIITTT! Dance on my couch and the "Oh Dammit...dammit...dummmit..dimmmit...dammit...dangit not dammit!"speech as well! Ain't kids great!

Denise B. said...

Good luck!!!

Anonymous said...

that's really cute actually, but i also understand your concerns... i expect Helene will start swearing soon, as i am terrible at watching myself...

Angie said...

Out of the mouths of babes indeed! :) We were watching a movie one day and my little girl walked in right as someone said "Fuck!" She proceeded to say it a few more times. No one said anything. We stifled our laughs as you did..or tried to anyway. :) She forgot all about the word a while later, thank goodness!! Michele sent me by the way.

Kimberly said...

Yeah, she'll wait until you're in a crowded line at the grocery store before she pulls that one out again...

(mine did it at walmart- I know)

Nam LaMore said...

well, i am torn over this age-old debate of cursing in front of children. i am not a parent, so my words may be hollow here ...

i think there is a time and a place for cursing. in the toolbox of communications, it is a powerful toot that, when used in the appropriate situation, will have more impact than than can be imagined.

i'm not referring to flipping the bird and cursing someone who cuts you off. i'm referring to the notion of releasing anger, frustration or pain over, say, not being able to fish a cherished wedding band that's gone down the drain; you can explain to the kids why you cursed and they see the value of cursing!

people pay much for such anger management therapy, so go ahead and let loose with some uncontrolled cursing when needed so you can reclaim your humanity when done cursing.

holding anger and frustration inside only gets you a job as a united states postal worker [advance apology if any visitors/readers are postal workers] .. and we know what happens to them when they're angry and frustrated.

btw: my parents were avid cursers, but they cursed in a few languages that we never learned.

of course, you do have the bubble wraps therapy on stand-by, right?

Christine said...

Oh you just can't help but laugh - those words sound so strange coming out of innocent mouths.

Luckily we haven't had too much trouble with our kids (yet). I don't swear much at all, and hubby has greatly improved since leaving the Navy!

Anonymous said...

hiya. thanks for dropping by my blog earlier. and yes.. please feel free to come back and poke around some more :)

Raehan said...

Then there are also the words that aren't meant to be curse words, but sound like them.

When Rachel was first starting to talk, she used to say "Daddy's cock," instead of Daddy's clock (watch). She also said "ass in the car" whenever I was putting gas in the car.

Anonymous said...

Very funny. We have had this too. So far it's been limited to 'oh shit' after daddy backed the car into a tree. Nothing worse than that but I am sure the day will come.

Anonymous said...

Did you tell your parents about the blog? My parents in no way know about mine. Only very few friends ( I can count on one hand) know. About the cursing, well she doesn;t understand i think it;s kinda cute!

Dawn said...

It will be OK! I think most parents have had this little slip up. I know I did.

Robin said...

Just wait until you think she's forgotten all about it and then she lets it rip in front of family, friends or even complete strangers! Kids have a way of doing that! :)

Anonymous said...

Hi,
Michele sent me... OMG a baby dropping the F bomb is hilarious!

Lucy Jane

Josh said...

Yes, kids pick up on those things. I was playing hide and seek with my son the other day and he didn't know I was in the same room as him and he said "Where the f**k is dad?"
I calmly lectured him on the use of the evil f word. But what can I say? My wife and I have naughty mouths sometimes.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for leaving a comment on my blog, I'm #5 And I enjoyed reading your entries very much. The one about the cussing reminded me when my first hubby & I had to clean up our act. Our son (who was about yr daughter's age) had begun to shout out "Sit! Sit!" and we KNEW he did not mean on a chair, LOL. Eventually he forgot the word and we were a lot more careful about what we said in front of the kids!

kenju said...

Michele sent me back......

Tammy said...

Oh my, been there done that!

Hope Lil' Princess keeps a clean mouth and your mom survives reading about it. :) Visiting via Michele tonight, altho I tend to wander thru on my own now and then!

Anonymous said...

Hahaha!

Actual conversation in my car when L was three years old:

Me (to car ahead not moving through intersection): Come on, let's go!

Liam: Come on, let's go MORON!

Me: That's really not an appropriate word for a little boy, that's more of a grown-up word. Can you think of a better word for you to use?

Liam: Come on, let's go ASSHOLE!

Ai yi yi.

Anonymous said...

Oh, btw, Michele sent me. I forgot that part in my eagerness to share my crappy parenting skills with all of cyberspace.

Pigs said...

Oh my gosh, that is hilarious!!

Anonymous said...

Not having kids of my own, and not spending lots of time around little kids these day as most of my friends here in the city don't have 'em, I find that I cuss like a sailor most of the time.

Every summer, I play lots of outdoor "family friendly" festivals, and my band loves it when I am about 10 minutes from the gig in the van, I will usually let off a string of cussing... enough to make a sailor blush... so that I can get it out of my system and not let anything bad slip during the show. It's worked so far! (Wish me luck!)