Watching Our Words

As parents, we all know to watch what we say around our children, but sometimes it’s easier said than done.  The Littlest E is almost 2½ and is quite the sponge and mimic.  It’s so cute when he sits at the dinner table trying to emulate the way his Daddy sits.  He notices everything.  Most of the time, it’s wonderful that he’s so observant.  It’s not so wonderful when either my husband or I forget who’s watching us.

Awhile back, The Littlest E was doing something, possibly throwing his toys and wouldn’t stop even after several redirects.  Finally, with great impatience I yelled, “Stop it!”  As the words shot out of my mouth, I knew I’d made a terrible mistake.  For weeks after the “Stop it” incident, my articulate son would mirror back to me those exact words, matching my inflection perfectly.

That phrase has tapered off as of late.  Lesson learned.  I need to be diligent about what I say and how I express myself around my son.  In fact, this is great to practice in everyday living and not just around the little ones.  I have slipped up on occasion and said “shoot” and “crap.”  Lucky for me, those words did not catch on with The Littlest E.

Over the holiday, it was my husband’s turn to get caught by our never-miss-a-thing son.  Tom, my husband, was putting together one of our son’s toys and things weren’t fitting right.  In frustration he said, “Doggone it.”  No sooner had he said those words, than our son repeated them replacing the “d” with a “b.”  Now, when something frustrates him, or when he feels like it, he’ll say “Boggone it” just like his Daddy.  It is funny when he says it, though we try not to laugh in front of him.  He says it quite often and I actually think he enjoys how it sounds exiting his mouth.  When The Littlest E went back to preschool after the holidays, I mentioned his new words to his teacher.  She didn’t seem to think it was a big deal and said it could have been a lot worse.

I’m grateful neither my husband nor I have dropped the F bomb in front of our son.  “Doggone it” and “crap” have been our worst, which is pretty minimal considering the breadth of expletives out there.  We’ve both been good about watching what we say.  Over the last weekend when I was jumping up and down cheering on the 49ers as they scored the winning touchdown against the New Orleans Saints with less than 1:37 left to go in the game, I screamed “Oh my gosh!” and “Oh my goodness!” not my usual pre-child cheers (use your imagination).  I was well aware that both husband and son watched every move I made and heard every word out of my mouth.  Excitedly, The Littlest E jumped up and down echoing, “Oh my goodness!” not even knowing why.

“Boggone it” seems to be sticking around.  For how long, only time will tell.  I keep trying to get him to say “Peter Bogdanovich” instead, but he won’t go for it.  “Boggone it” is a chapter he’ll eventually finish.  Down the road, inevitably there will be another word, a worse word coming from either from me or my husband, or maybe a friend.  That will be chapter 2.

Image: Bright Meadows