You have this sweet, innocent, tiny little baby, and it's all love and coos and cuteness (and diapers and spit-up and insomnia, but whatevs). And then one day you hit that milestone where your child starts speaking. Incoherent babble at first. But then, slowly, words start forming. Sense starts being made. You finally can communicate with them!
A breakthrough!
And then, just as quickly as the magic begins, it gets ruined. By a tiny little mynah-bird voice sitting in the back of the car when you're sitting in traffic with a particularly bad case of a stupid-driver-induced-mental-breakdown. Or when you stub your pinky toe on the metal corner of the bed frame. Or when you burn yourself cooking. Or when you hit your funny bone, which is NEVER funny!
(I mentioned how clumsy I am, right?)
Anyway, you're in the middle of your semi-crisis situation when the little voice pipes up.
"Sit?"
And no, they aren't giving the dog a command.
"Sit!"
They are repeating what you just said, only in their sweet little baby version.
You tell them not to say that word. But of course, you just said that word. So they give a wry little grin and say it again. And again. They giggle and say it. They frown and say it. They try it on with every emotion and situation they can think of in their sweet little brains.
Meanwhile you're sitting there shaking your head, acknowledging that while you likely weren't in the running in the first place, now you most certainly WILL NOT win Parent Of The Year.
Yeah....
Given that I swear like a sailor on leave, this situation has happened with each of my children. I explain to them that those are mommy and daddy words. I explain to them that they are not allowed to say them until they are grown ups. I explain to them that the word they just used IS NOT an okay descriptor for their sister just because she took the Lego piece they wanted.
But I have accepted the fact that my kids will swear.
And you know what? I'm okay with that.
While I have no patience for people who genuinely lack any other words to use besides curse words, I am not opposed to swearing in a situational or contextual manner. It adds emphasis. And sometimes, there really isn't a better word with which to make your point.
(It also has been proven to relieve pain! Thank you MythBusters!)
In spite of what my mother-in-law says, I do not feel that swearing indicates low IQ. I know several intelligent people (myself included) who also appreciate the satisfying use of an F bomb.
Here's my opinion on swearing, especially around kids-
Don't swear in front of other people's children. Common courtesy.
Don't swear just because you lack any other punctuative words to use or because you're trying to sound cool. Read a book and expand your vocabulary.
And DO NOT, under ANY circumstances, swear at your children or call them names. Ever. That's just Decent Parenting 101.
But it is okay to swear in front of your own children, as long as you explain to them appropriate ages and appropriate places for such language.
And besides, there are waaaaayyy worse things for kids to be exposed to.
After all, I'd much rather my child drop an F bomb in class than a racist or homophobic slur!
But that's just me.
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