The "D" Word

I don't have a potty mouth, but occasionally I let one slip. Worse even, sometimes the kids are around to hear it. I try. Really I do. But sometimes the situation just calls for a bad word.

Usually, if I catch myself saying one, I try to say it under my breath ... but not always. They're never awful or ugly words, but still, they're not words that five year old children should be hearing.

And using.

And using correctly.

The other night in the bathtub, Dude was playing with his pirate ship. One of the pirates fell out of the crow's nest and into the bath water. As this happens, I hear Dude say, "Dammit!". We had a very stern talk about how that was not an appropriate word for little boys to be saying, and he promised to never say it again. Problem solved.

Then two days later we were in the soccer mom mobile on our way to pick up Sister from her after school program. Dude was going through his backpack looking for something, when from the back seat I hear, "Damn!". Apparently he had forgotten something at daycare and this upset him.

And this from the kid who didn't want to say, "What the hell!" when he thought I was driving too fast!

So once we were at home, we had another stern discussion. He again promised never to utter the "D" word, and I promised not to say it around him anymore. Okay, so I slipped up once. Just once, though, in a week. That's pretty good, right?

He reminds me daily that he is remembering not to say the "D" word. He also happily pointed out to me on the occasion of my one slip up that I HAD said it ... and he had not.

Photo courtesy of Alice Chaos.

Mom! Slow the *%$! down!

The other day, Thing 2 (son, age 4) and I were on our way to pick up Thing 1 (daughter, age 7) from her afterschool program. We were running pretty late - later than usual, I should say. So with lateness and not wanting to be fined in mind, I was trying to hurry.

Now, Thing 2 has let me know on several different occasions that he thinks I should slow down. That I drive too fast. I say, "What does a 4-year-old know about driving?" So I usually thank him for his advise and continue on in my need for speed.

This time was different. This time, was one for the record books. I was approaching a stop sign pretty quickly and finally came to an abrupt hault. From the back I hear a gasping in of breath and this ...

"OH MY GOSH!"
"And I say that, because I don't want to say, 'Oh my GOD, or What the HELL.'"

I mean really! What do you say to that!? It was incredibly hard not to laugh at him, but I somehow managed not to guffaw.

I did, however, tell him that he was right.

Those were things we didn't want to say.

And then I slowed down.