And, of course I contacted the parents to apologize and let them know that we were not all walking around talking like sailors in our house.
I was pretty mortified, because I really did understand that feeling of your child losing their innocence. I had no idea he actually even knew that word. Guess who gets an email from her son's teacher saying (in almost that same panicky tone, which felt very familiar) that my baby has taught the F-word to a little girl in his class? Yup. Had being a parent taught me nothing? Had I not learned that judging someone's parenting skills almost guarantees you to find yourself in a similar situation?įast forward six years to my own youngest of three, now in first grade. I was SHOCKED! How could any family expose a 1st grader to that foul, foul language? I was stunned at the horrible parenting skills that these people possessed. I found out that a boy in his class, who is the youngest of three kids, taught him that abomination. There are LEVELS of bad words, and I explained this to him in a devastated shriek. I realized that he knew it was a bad word, but did not realize that this was not the same as saying "Stupid". My baby! My sweet, cherubic child! In my mind, all of his innocence was shattered in that one word. "Zach! What did you just say?!" He shrugged, cast his eyes downward and mumbled, "Fuck." Totally unwilling to believe that my sweet, innocent baby could ever utter such filth, I clarified, "I'm sorry: WHAT?" He shrugged again looking down at the floor, "Fuck." Go on! Go say it to her!" I was HORRIFIED! I couldn't believe it! I wouldn't believe it! So, I did what any normal mom would do. When my oldest son Zach was in first grade, I overheard him whispering to his brother Dylan, "Dylan! Go up to Mom and say fuck.
(Notice I said "freaking" for all of you who would otherwise be offended. Plus, I think the whole idea of profanity is just freaking ridiculous. I think the combination of letters in "shit" roll off the tongue better than those in the word "poop". So why hold back? When I stub my toe, yelling out "SHIT!" is much more satisfying to me than "POOP!" They mean the same thing, so why is one offensive and one not? What made some of you gasp at the fact that I would have the nerve to write such a word? And why do I like the profanity better? Is it because it is profanity and it feels rebellious? I think that is only part of the reason. Between television, YouTube, movies and music, you just cannot avoid it. Maybe because, at this point, my kids have heard it all. I will be the first to admit that my potty-mouth has gotten much worse in the last few years.
I think in the Bible, there is something about not ever calling people a fool, but the word "fool" is not even considered impolite today. Who decided what words are considered profanity and what words are not? And why? Aren't words just words? So why are some considered taboo while others are fine? I don't claim to be any big biblical scholar, but I am pretty sure that none of the words we consider profanity today are actually banned in the Bible or the Torah or any other religious text.