We’ve been talking about dirty words around here a lot lately. The kids being told by some helpful soul that the “F word” starts with the letters “f” and “u” and hearing someone say “Ass Head” helped get the ball rolling. “My Dog Skip” added “titties” to the word bank. Let’s just say that the days of the “S” word meaning “stupid” are over in this house.
Anyway, as soon as Jake hears a dirty word, he starts to talk about it in lightly veiled terms (“the S word, the D word”) which while under the guise of protecting Molly’s innocence, just gets her more intrigued.
We’ve talked about how certain words or phases can be problematic because they are right on the verge of cursing. Thus my aversion to the current preschool trend of little kids saying “What the??? What the????” Ewww, I do not like that.
Anyway, now that they are 10 and almost 8 we have been giving the kids more freedom of speech than before: Toot has become Fart and Bottom has become Butt.
This pleases them to no end. I’m sure the slight hesitation and sheepish looks that precede the use of these words will not last forever, if they last till the end of the week.
During our most recent conversation they quizzed me on what is and isn’t allowed in our house (“Is darn allowed? Yes. “Suck?” No--use “Stink” instead. “Oh my God?” Absolutely not. “Oh my Gosh?” Well, yes), then Molly came up with this phrase crammed full of Mom and Dad-sanctioned expression.
“So you’re saying it’s okay to say,
Darn it my stink butt farted. Oh my Gosh!”
Much giggling ensued.
I’m sure we’ll look back at these as the Good Old Days.
Love it! You give an inch...
ReplyDeleteWe still encourage fluff or toot instead of fart and our boys are 11 and 9. Maybe I should loosen up. I just know "fart" is the beginning of the end in our house.
Maybe if my husband manages to stop dropping the f bomb around our toddlers, we might be able to make a start on this... At the moment, we have no credibility.
ReplyDeleteOh, thanks for the laugh. Mine are little, so we still use toot and bottom. I'm with Chris above, fart will be the beginning of the end of something.
ReplyDeleteThat's funny. I guess with two boys I have a lot of this to look forward to!
ReplyDeleteAnd Anna, the new look! Wow. It looks great.
:)
We say 'pas gas'.
ReplyDeleteHowever, 'butt' is unavoidable as we're always yelling at the dog for sniffing butts!
I have to confess that a fart has been a fart for some time in my house. I have taken a forthright approach to words. That is, if the word is functional and pretty accurate, well, then use it. Really, is there another word that describes a fart so accurately and gives the appropriate level of disgust?! If a word is to be avoided, isn't it because some related 'act' is to be avoided? If we can avoid farting in situations... then we can avoid saying "fart"... But when it happens? Call it like it is!! And move on.
ReplyDeleteAs for "What the ...?!" and "suck"... my girls are way past preschool and those are still out of the question! According to my rule we won't be needing those words until we have some reason to discuss the actions that go with... When I started in on the explanations, they decided they could manage to get their point across without those terms.
This rule solved my "douche bag" problem after a single incident. :)
Hey, I love your new design.
ReplyDeleteAnd, I must be an old fuddy duddy because we absolutely outlaw "What The??" and Butt and stupid and oh my God, etc. My mom thinks I'm nuts. But I tell her, Butt is a vulgar word. Just say fanny or hiney or patoot or bottom or... there are so many choices! Plus, letting "butt" into acceptable conversation opens the door for "butt head" "Butt breath" "Butt face" etc. even after that explanation she still thinks I'm crazy, but she respects my decision.
It's looking so beautiful around here - love the new look!
ReplyDeleteUm, this cracked me up, but I'm with Kate, I do not think your kids would be allowed to play with my kids. I am really trying though and I think we are getting better around here.
oooooh, potty words. my favorite way to show what a square mom i am. my kids are almost 18 and 19 and i STILL don't like to hear the F word (and by that i mean the gas F, not the bomb kind). and i abhor the S word. if it's not appropriate to say the F word (not the gas one) then why is it okay to say the S word?? because it's not really sex??
ReplyDeleteit's been interesting to continue to tell them that words have meaning. and to be careful.
i'd love to tell you they listen intently, but i'm much more likely to be answered with an eye roll and you're so lame.
oh well, i continue to try. . .
oh, and my 19 year old son asks "does someone need to pass the crackers?" when someone gasses. as in "who cut the cheese?"
ReplyDeletealways the clever one. he also coined the phrase "windy doodies" for gas.
enlightening child.
always.
Love the new look!
ReplyDeleteThese struggles make my head spin!
UGH! I know what you mean. I had to have a conversation with my 6 and 7 year old about the word ASS the other day at the zoo because there was an animal named the Somolian Wild Ass. And they can read now. Well, they can read ass anyway. So, they went around the zoo ALL DAY asking questions about the Somolian Wild ASS just so they could say the word. I had to tell them sometimes Ass is used to describe a mule or donkey type animal. Oh my gosh! My 6 year old wold tell EVERYONE we saw for DAYS afterwards about the Somoilan Wild ASS! It was hard not to laugh.
ReplyDeleteYeah, we have graduated from be quiet to shut up in this house. Stupid is a pretty regular word. Butt is SO MUCH better than ass.
Doesn't mean I am happy about the language, though.
Pick your battles, right?
KEEP BELIEVING
If only I had known that "What the..." was the start of it....
ReplyDeleteI love the new look by the way. Sorry what Molly said was pretty funny. Did you know I have a Molly-Mae?
ReplyDelete