out the mouths of children...

[snarkalicious]

Of all my kids, my youngest son always has the most unique way of interpreting things...

He came in the other day to tell me a wasp had stung him (he is 12). While I was looking at the sting he was being VERY quiet and stoic (not like him at all) so I took him in the bathroom, shut the door and tod him it was OK to cry or yell if he wanted to...he thinks for a moment, and then asks "Is it OK if I say a bad word?"

Now, after 5 kids, you learn not to just say "yes" without more information, so I asked what word he wanted to say. He replied, "MF".

OK, so I can't resist, I tell him to go ahead. And he yells "MONKEY F##KER!"

Now, I am trying not to laugh, but I say "Monkey? Don't you mean Mother?"

And he gives me a horrified 12 year old boy look and says "MOTHER F$$KER? Mom, that's SICK!"

[Bob]

Thank you! I needed that.. [biggrin]

[Jay]

Aug 12, 2010 15:35:41 GMT -5 snarkalicious said:

OK, so I can't resist, I tell him to go ahead. And he yells "MONKEY F##KER!"

I'm surprised you'd let him yell out a bad word.

[snarkalicious]

Well, I've learned to choose my battles in childrearing

[emanon]

Haha, funny story, Snark.
Nothing wrong with letting him yell it out.

[Justin Thyme]

I'm tickled to death that a child that young that knows those words has the self control not to just blurt them out at the time of the sting.

I'm also proud that the fellow understood how wrong the actual word is and was horrofied by it.

You are doing something right there Snark.

[Jay]

Aug 13, 2010 12:10:58 GMT -5 snarkalicious said:

Well, I've learned to choose my battles in childrearing

I wouldn't want my kids to say naughty words around me. The way I see it, my kids should show me a bit more respect than that.

[snarkalicious]

To each his own, hey? I've raised 3 to adulthood and have 2 still at home, so far they are all fine, upstanding, productive citizens. I figure getting stung by a wasp is a good cause for cursing (lord knows *I* would curse if I got stung) and he did ask permission....there are MUCH worse things that a 12 year old boy can be doing!

[emanon]

Aug 13, 2010 15:48:19 GMT -5 snarkalicious said:

To each his own, hey? I've raised 3 to adulthood and have 2 still at home, so far they are all fine, upstanding, productive citizens. I figure getting stung by a wasp is a good cause for cursing (lord knows *I* would curse if I got stung) and he did ask permission....there are MUCH worse things that a 12 year old boy can be doing!

Exactly! Little dude had self control.

[Fredo]

My guess is that teaching a boy how to act like a man is decidedly outside of Jay's skill set. A smurf maybe, but not a man.

He asked and was given permission to vent. That shows a decidedly greater level of self control than I see amongst the general public and is worthy of a kudos to the parent. Nice work.

[Felix]

Another example of much the same idea I heard, last year from a visiting writer, was her system with her ten-year old son. The issue of bad language came up in the usual way, and Ms. McCorkle made this deal with her son; as soon as he got home from school, he had a fifteen minute window when he could use every profane, obscene, un-pc word he knew. At the end of fifteen minutes, all such words were forbidden until the next day.

This system worked admirably, with one complication; the boy of course told his buddies of the deal, and they all wanted to come over for that fifteen minutes of freedom. Ms. McCorkle was wise enough to nix that idea. Imagine the reaction of the more up-tight parents if she had hosted a curse festival for their children.

[ScarlettP]

*Giggle* Great story. Thanks for sharing.

Since no one seems to appreciate Jay finding little factoids for us anymore...

A resent study reports that yelling 'bad words' actually does help humans endure more pain. The exact words uttered do not appear to be important as even guttural noises work, although different people tend to get a better 'result' from different words. Venting works.

[daworm]

The way I see it, my kids should show me a bit more respect than that.

Why should they be any different?

Oh, that was mean. But at least I didn't tell you to STFU. Actually, I like it when you make a fool of yourself. Gives me someone to giggle about. I guess that makes me a bad admin. So be it. I can live with that.