I don’t have kids, but I lived with my ex-fiance for 2 years, and she had a little boy. William was 4 when we all moved in together, and the ex was very worried about him picking up some of my bad habits. Especially the cussing, I was still only 1 year removed from the military and nearly ever other word was not acceptable around children.
So the day we move in, the ex (a germ freak) sprayed this foamy crap all over the bathroom without telling anyone she was doing it, then she left to buy groceries. While I’m unpacking the boxes, little 4-yr old William tells me he needs to use the bathroom, I tell him where it is and he tells me he still can’t use it. I go in and see this weird foam all over everything.
I look at this stuff, trying to figure out what it is and say out loud but to myself, “What the fuck is this shit?”
Then I hear the front door open, I tell William to ask Mommy what this is in the bathroom.
Little four year old William yells down the hallway, “Mommy what the fuck is this shit?”
From that day forth, every time she left us alone together it was with the warning, “And you watch your mouth around him.”
My husband has taught our son the word goddamn, and boy does he use it every chance he gets. What bugs me is how casually he uses it, as if it were just another word (which hubby says it is). We’ll just be walking down the street and he’ll look at me and say:
“Mommy, I’m hungry, let’s get some goddamn food”.
in the sweetest little voice imaginable. Of course, everyone laughs when they hear it, reinforcing it so that I don’t think he’ll ever stop saying it.
Last year, he went through this phase where when we were in a public place and he knew he was about to get in big trouble, he’d pucker up his little face and say:
“Mommy, I’m sorry, I won’t do it again. Please don’t hurt me!”
In the most pathetic, pleading voice possible. Mind you, this is a child who was spanked maybe 3 times his entire life…You can imagine the dirty looks I got when he pulled that one!
I haven’t had anything really embarrassing happen with my own kids (yet), but my niece had a classic moment a while back. My brother-in-law decided he was going to give up beer for Lent (not a tough decision, really, since he only has a couple a week). At a fancy resturant with the family, he forgets his little pledge and orders a beer. His daughter looks distraught and says in a voice that everyone in the place can hear, “Daddy! You promised you were going to quit drinking!”