Potty mouths

I'm sure a whole bunch of your own stories of little kid potty mouths are going through your head just from reading the title. I have witnessed or heard stories of other kids repeating bad words they have heard their parents or someone else say. I have laughed very hard every time I heard a little kid do something like that...that is until I got kids of my own.

We really are very very conservative in our speech. We grew up that way and we are bringing up our girls that way. We often get the tattling "ummmm" followed by "she said.........". The blank is usually filled in with one of the following:

• the "b" word
• the "c" word
• the "s" word
• the "f" word

Now, the "b" word is "butt"...not a curse word, but just not a word that a lady should say. The "c" word has been "crap" or "hate". I have no idea why the "c" word was hate, but it was according to one of the girls, I don't remember which one. The "s" word is either "shut up" or "stupid" and the "f" word is "fart". We reply with, "Well, that isn't a cuss word, but it isn't a word that our family chooses to say." We have had to add, "...but we don't say anything if someone in another family says one of those words and that doesn't make them a bad person, we just choose not to say them." We have had to add that to our lecture because they would "ummm" people when we were out in public! Please just let me crawl under a table and hide!

The thing is, you just never know what they will say. I know I am so not alone. Every parent holds their breath a little when their kid speaks to someone, we clench our teeth when the teacher calls, and I'm sure I am not the only one that quickly covers their child's mouth when you see someone odd looking coming towards you and you see the look in their eyes that tells you they are about to make a comment or ask a question you would rather the public not hear! Well, I have two examples from our home.

When M was in the 1st grade (I can't believe she is almost in the 4th grade!), we had that call from the teacher, who is also my very good, kindred spirit friend Michele. It was only a few weeks into the school year when Michele called me. The conversation went something like this:

Michele: Trinity, M is in the Principal's office.

Me: You are kidding me, right?

Michele (seeming very stunned): No, I am not kidding.

Me: Okaaaaay (that is said with hesitancy).

Michele: Trinity, she flipped a kid off. Then she started talking really fast and rambling the story of how M wasn't happy with the girl next to her and just flipped her off. She didn't deny flipping this girl off, she said the girl made her mad.

My thought process was kind of like this:

Oh. My. Goodness. And just when I thought she was getting better! She's ruined and none of the parents are ever going to let their kids be friends with her! What am I going to do? I can't do this. She needs to go to counseling. What 1st grader flips her friends off? Does she know what that means? I have THAT child that goes around flipping everyone off! (all of those thoughts went through my head in about 2 seconds!

M came home from school, and by that time I had a chance to call Autumn Bethany and Becky, and calm down a little bit. When I asked her what flipping someone off means, she said, "it means leave me alone." Okay, I can handle that. But let's just say, little miss M definitely learned her lesson from the trip to the Principal's office that she uses her mouth, not her finger to tell people to leave her alone!

Next example, sister 4, S. She has gotten into a habit of saying "Oh my god." I hate even writing it. This is NOT a phrase we use in our home. We don't even say "oh my gosh" because it sounds like the other, and we don't want to constantly hear the fight of, "no I said gosh....no she didn't she said the other...etc." So we say, "oh my, oh dear, oh my goodness, etc." Like I said before, those are the rules we choose for our family, not saying everyone has to live by my rules. So I don't know why or where she picked it up, but she has picked it up. The first few times, she told on herself. She just came to Autumn and said, "I said a bad word, it was oh my dod." Her g's still sound like g's, so it is really funny. Of course, when a sister hears her say this, tattling is soon to follow. However, one day, M not only tattled, but also tried to give her sister a pep-talk/lecture that went kind of like this: "S, you aren't supposed to say that. You need to apologize to God (she heard Autumn tell her that). You need to say I'm sorry to God because you took his name in sane."

So, here is the rule: Do not take the Lord's name in sane!!!!!