Welcome to the Cellar, Brig. My brother had the same problem with truck. Can you imagine, there were people who would actually encourage him.:eek:

I still cuss. I think I'll continue to cuss even as Sarah gets older, since I see absolutely nothing wrong with it. I might change my mind. I will wait and see.

When I was a kid, I knew my parents cussed when I wasn't around, and they knew I cussed when they weren't around. But we weren't allowed to cuss around each other. Does this make sense? No, it makes no sense. It's stupid -- just monumentally stupid.

Kids cussing in public or around strangers is an issue of good manners. I wouldn't do it myself, and I'll expect the same of her. But I'm damned sure not going to tell her not to do something that I do myself. That's just hypocrisy.

Like I said, people say that I will change my mind, so I'm keeping an open mind about it. But that's how I've reasoned it out intellectually.

Ok. You cuss around your kids. They're going to cuss. Your kid goes to pre-school or to a neighbor's house and cusses. UhOh. Instant ostracization for little juju.

Maybe she'll finally get some fucking relief from the fucking gas.

Like father, like daughter. :)

      Covered the foul language thing with the boy awhile back. We were driving along and something on the radio sparked a discussion on the subject. The boy says, "I don't know why people think they have to use it. It's just stupid."
      I looked at him for a second, and grinned unable to resist. "Gimme a break kid. I know how you and your friends talk when no adults are around." He looked struck by lightning. You could just see him trying to figure out how I knew. So I told him. "I was ten once to you know. Unlike a lot of parents I remember those days and have no illusion that things have changed."
      He looked even more nervous at that. Then an idea dawned over his face. "That means you..." He trailed off.
      I just smiled at the road. Then added, "As long as you don't use it inappropriately nothing more need be said."

Perhaps she will learn from that experience and not do it again?

In the case that she is too young to understand or learn that lesson, then I'll simply refrain from cussing until I think she's able to learn it.

When my son was about 3 we were getting out of the car one Saturday, and he put his hand up in the air and said, "Heil Hitler!" When I asked him where he learned this, he said, "Julie Andrews The Sound of Music!" Leave it to my kid to take the most sickeningly sweet movie musical of all time and pull out the one bad part of it. I wish I had a picture of his preschool teacher's face when I told her. (We wanted to make sure they knew what was going on in case he taught any of his little friends to say it, but that never happened fortunately. And after that we edited it down to just the musical numbers.)

we've been teaching spencer how to cuss effectively. time and a place, man.

one day, jinx was trying to get her stuff together and get the kids out the door ( i think spence was 3 ) and she dropped her cell phone....." Oh, Mom! you dropped your fuckin' phone!"

I think introducing certain words to kids and then forbidding them from saying them is ludicrous. Kids are going to say horrible and embarrasing things to/about/in front of you whether they are allowed to or not.

I think I would rather hear my little boy say a cuss word than something like "Leave me alone" or "I don't like you." Cuss words are just words. They are rarely used for what they really mean (literally), thus giving them no meaning at all. I guess it looks bad to other people when your child says shit or fuck (especially in super-fundie Colorado Springs) but really, what's the big deal? Just words.

My nephew isn't allowed to say hate. So.... everytime he (or anyone else) says 'hate', it starts a round of "he said hate!", "Oh, now she said hate", "You said hate twice", "Oh, hate again - you said it again!!" Until I want to fucking kill someone.

Jinx, you might want to start preparing your statement for the press ...

You know, the one that you'll be weeping as you read it on Action News, apologizing to the families of all the people your nephew killed in that shooting spree at his school.

Do aunts generally read those statements wolf? I have to admit I watch very little (read: none) action/fox news.... and I'd definitely want to follow the correct protocol in that situation.