My 3-year-old caught me saying the F-bomb
Not only did my 3-year-old son catch me dropping an F-bomb, he turned me in.
Believe me, my use of profanity was not intentional. I didn't even think my boy heard it.
I was taking him to pre-school a couple of days ago when it happened. The rain was pouring down and we had to run quickly to the car so he wouldn't get soaked. Once he was buckled in his car seat, I went to my trunk to get an umbrella so we would have it ready when we reached the school. That's when the trunk closed on my fingers.
"Oh, F@*%#!" was my response. I said it under my breath and didn't think about it again. My son didn't mention it. All was fine.
But late in the day I received a phone call from my wife, our home sheriff. "Did you swear in front of our son?" she asked, already armed with the truth. Yep, he told on me, the moment she picked him up from school.
I don't blame the kid. Actually, I'm impressed by his memory at such a young age. I apologized to both of them. Made sure he knew I knew it was a bad word. But he already knew that. How? We're not exactly sure, but he used it one day, correctly, after a toy he loved fell on the ground while he was playing. Maybe he heard it from one of his cousins or on TV. Or maybe from one of us?
In any case, we were shocked. And then we felt shame, thinking he'll use it in front of others. And they'll believe we're terrible parents. Without getting mad, and while trying to stifle our own giggles, we told him it was a bad word.
We must've done a good job. He doesn't use it anymore. Except to tell on Daddy.

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Comments
Today the same situation happened to me. I am upstairs on my computer and my son is suppose to be downstairs with my husband. After trying for about 20 minutes to figure out how to put something on ebay I accidentally clicked the wrong thing and erased everything. Next thing out of my mouth is the F-Bomb. Not loud but in a clearly angry voice. Of course at that moment my son is walking around the corner and comes to a complete stop. He is 2 1/2 so he didn't know it was really anything to be telling on me about, but even worse he looked scared and nervous about me saying it. Probably it was a mix of me sounding mad and using that word. I try to never even raise my voice when he is around because he has always seemed very sensitive and easily upset with anything he thinks is yelling.
So, I have to tell him I am sorry about using that word and that it's a bad one and I should not have said it. He seemed fine with that. Except I am sure it will come back to bite me in the ...rear end sometime soon when he gets mad. I am also equally sure that that time will be in front of my mother in law.
Posted by: Beth | February 18, 2008 9:55 PM