It happened innocently enough. S was (and still is) on a YouTube Disney princess kick, and after countless numbers of “Let It Go” with not only the girls from Frozen, but every other Disney princess you can imagine, I was looking for something new. In my Princess video search, I ran across a Saturday Night Live skit featuring Anna Kendrick as Ariel. Now, before I decided to show it to my children, I snuck around the corner to watch it myself–just in case there was any language in it I didn’t want them to hear. (See, I’m responsible.) Little did I know Miss S was right on my heels when Ariel told Ursula she was being a, well, let’s just say it rhymes with itch. And S piped up that Ursula wasn’t being a, again, rhyme it with itch. (But let’s be honest here, she really was.)
I quickly turned off my phone and tried to pick my chin up off the floor. My sweet, sweet, precious girl just said a curse word!!! What in the world was I going to do? The Professor and I keep pretty tidy mouths at home. I was raised in a house where swearing, cursing, cussin’, whatever you want to call it, was not tolerated. And it took soap in the mouth once for me to never do it again (in front of my parents). But she didn’t know what she was saying. She didn’t realize that it was a “bad” word–she was just repeating Ariel. She didn’t know there even were “good” or “bad” words.
So what did I do? I didn’t do much of anything. I kept calm, told her that wasn’t a nice word, and that we shouldn’t say it–that the word could hurt people’s feelings and that we never want to hurt anyone. Done and done. I really feel that if I had made a big deal about it at this age, it would have made it fun for her to say–to test me. Obviously, if she knew that word wasn’t one we say and used it, then there would have been some type of consequence.
S was so innocent in what she was saying earlier this summer and my heart aches a little bit knowing the first time she says a really bad, A-Christmas-Story-Ralphie-type, word will probably come sooner, rather than later. It’s just a fact that she will be exposed to a whole new world of things now that she has started kindergarten and away from the cocoon I have built around her. But isn’t that what growing up is all about? New experiences (good and bad) and learning from them.
Has your child ever said anything you thought was inappropriate (or at least inappropriate for a child to say)? How did you react?
I feel your pain!
I’m just waiting for the next word–she is already coming home with so many new expressions from the first few weeks of school.