Fairy Parent Poll: Swearing

[Fairy]

[g-mama]

We've become very good at holding the curse words when the kids are in earshot, but when they aren't (like sleeping, in another room and distracted, etc) we still let 'em rip. Sometimes it just feels good. :P

It irritates me when other adults say offensive words/phrases around my kids. Not even curse words but more like "that sucks" or "piece of crap." Then I have to explain to my kids why they should not repeat it.


~Kristen

Paolo 11-00
Benjamin 8-03
Marco 12-05

[nicoleandjackson]

I'm in the first choice camp with the caveat that when DS is asleep or when I'm away from him, all bets are off. Then the pent-up curse words explode like the proverbial F-bomb. I swear I'd make a pirate blush when I'm on my own...

BTW, I agree with the PP that "sucks" and "crap" also make me cringe when in DS's earshot. I prefer to say that something "blows my nose" :).

Nicole, Mommy to Jackson 4/30/02

[Pennylane]

I am guilty of throwing around the word "crap" and "freakin". I did have a wake up call the other day when my DD got off the bus coming home from school and said "It is too freakin hot to be outside". Lesson learned for me :)


Ann

[g-mama]

Oooooh - "freakin" - forgot about that one! My SIL (whom I love dearly) uses that one ALL the time.


~Kristen

Paolo 11-00
Benjamin 8-03
Marco 12-05

[Nooknookmom]

I run a construction bus w/ DH, if there aren't swear words used from time to time the guys don't get the job done, lol. When "the chick contractor" swears it seems to gain their attention, I dunno why.

But around the kids only the occasional slip up.

DD1 is almost 12 & is testing waters herself, w/ cr*p, etc. She knows better than to use something foul.

But you guys oughta hear some of the middle school kids cuss these days-at school, geeeesh!

[punkrockmama]

I never call them bad words. They're not. To me they are just made up words that are pretty useless and meaningless. And there are better ways to express yourself....That's my party line for the children.

Now with that said, I've got a mouth like a dirty, drunken, sailor. One of my favorite words is fu^%. I've come up with so many variations,lol. Another fav is "son of a female dog". Oh, I could go on and on. hahaha

I do a good job at staying respectable in front of the kids. Every once in a while I'll slip. Mostly while driving, sometimes at home when I drop something and break it. Then I say something like "Listen to mommie saying those silly words. She can come up with something better."

[Puddy73]

I really, really try to keep the potty mouth in check around the kids, but DH has a harder time. Driving is the hardest for both of us. DH calls me Ned Flanders when I say things like "Oh, Sugarfoot" or "nuttyfudgkins" to avoid cursing.

Jennifer
Mommy to Annabelle 9/08/03 & Finn 10/31/05

"If we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane." - Jimmy Buffett

[Fairy]

I'm a big offender of crap and sucks. It's a real double standard cuz I can't stand when people say it in front of DS, but then I say it all the time. Not good.

[Corie]

Love that gum commercial about having a *dirty mouth*.

The guy says, "What the French toast?!"


That commercial catches me funny every time.

[s7714]

Voted for the second one, but damn only escapes my lips if I'm really annoyed. I don't consider hell to be a bad word at all, but it doesn't frequent my vocabulary anyway so I guess it doesn't matter.

My DH uses damn a lot even though he's tried to cut back. Too much apparently since I caught my 2yo sitting on the floor one day trying to do something and she was muttering "damn it. damn it." to herself repeatedly.

Jennifer
Mommy to
Miss Pure Energy 3/03
Miss Limit Tester 6/05

Our bones may be brittle, but our spirit is unbreakable.
Osteogenesis Imperfecta www.oif.org

[mudder17]

Well, I wasn't quite sure how to vote. DH does cuss, but he tries to curb his tongue when the girls are around. I've been working on him to be better about this. The ones that tend to slip out are d*** and s***. Occasionally he'll use the f*** word, but he tries not to do it in front of them and he tends to say it more quietly. I usually say "sugar" or "dang". Kaya says "darn it"--it's something she picked up from her cousin.


Eileen

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[oneplustwo]

This reminded me of a particular outing. One evening this summer we were driving in an unfamiliar town in the pouring rain. At a traffic light, DH turned right following the car in front of us ONTO A HIGHWAY ON THE WRONG SIDE. A few seconds up the wrong lane, there were CARS. HEADED. RIGHT. AT. US. I screamed "Oh, CRAAAAP!!" from the bottom of my soul. Thank goodness nothing happened. The oncoming cars stopped, we were able to turn around, and so was the car we had followed.

Then all the way home, all three kids kept saying, "Oh CRAP. Oh CRAP. Oh CRAP." Then they started singing it. It was a long ride home.

[Fairy]

I do alot of frakkin'. Trying to find modifiers, but ultimately, none are good.

[Fairy]

Honestly, you really earned that one. In fact, you earned something much worse that crap. Dang.

[hellokitty1]

Pretty good at not using "official" curse words but bad when it comes to "crap" or "stupid." As another poster mentioned, driving is the most difficult time to hold back. When the conversation has to include a curse word for emphasis, we use a lot of spelling like, WTH, MF'er, DA (unintelligent butt)...

[oneplustwo]

Yeah, it was a low mommy moment. They've never used it again and seem to have forgotten about it, thank goodness.

[ellies mom]

I try really hard to curb my potty mouth. I'm not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but I try. I really wish that DH would try harder though.

[caleymama]

LOL! I do the same thing.

Just recently I've noticed my older DD saying "sugar pops!" when something isn't going right. Better than the real thing, I guess, but not quite what I'd like to hear! She has also said "nuts!" for a while now but that one isn't as bad. I'm hopeful that she doesn't pick up "fudgesicles!"

[StantonHyde]

I have always had the worst potty mouth, especially under stress. But once DS was old enough to repeat me, I have stopped swearing. DD is a complete myna bird, so now I have myself trained to say "sugar'. I even say it when I drop something and my kids aren't around. I do swear alot under my breath and I can still swear like a sailor if kids aren't in ear shot. In fact, I probably swear more now around adults because it is the only time I can :-)

[Fairy]

Just to clarify, what I think you earned was the right to scream whatever word, bad or not, at that particular moment. There is a time and a place for the verbal manifestation of anxiety, and yours? That was a clear winner!

[lizajane]

i never swear in front of my children, my mother or little old ladies.

with my best friend from high school... um, yeah. not so much tactful. more like drunken sailor.

but i spent so much time as a teacher, swim instructor, day camp counselor and babysitter, that i was well rehearsed in "golly gosh" before i had my own kids.

my latest one is, "CRUMBS!!!" i have NO idea where that came from. i catch myself saying it when they AREN'T around and then i really laugh at my old mommy self.

[jenjenfirenjen]

Yeah, my DS1 told my DH the other day he was "freaking old." We couldn't help but laugh so of course, it was his favorite word for a while (replacing dammit.) So I guess I'm not doing too good of a job but considering what a total potty mouth I am, it's not too bad.

[Corie]

I've shared this story with some friends before. But I will tell it again.


I took my daughter, Carson to get an ice cream. She and I were sitting at a picnic table
outside the ice cream place and Carson is looking all "fashion fever" (her term for lookin' good).
She has on a pretty pink dress, pink hairbow, her new pink Tevas and she announces
very loudly,

"It is so hot out here! I'm sweating my balls off!"



And, can you believe that she did not hear this from my husband?
Sadly, she heard this lovely little phrase from me.

[jawilli4]

When DS was two our dog had a bad GI infection that caused her to poop inside. This got a bit old but we dealt with it as best as we could. Evidently, DH was pretty open with his frustration with her. About a week later, DH and I got into a fight. Although we thought we were out of earshot, DS heard me say "well, sh**!" From downstairs we heard DS screaming, "outside, dog!" Obviously, it was hysterical and we quit fighting immediately, but we both were reminded to watch what comes out of our mouths.

[JoyNChrist]

I didn't vote, because I have a somewhat different policy on "swearing".

There are some words that I absolutely do not allow anyone (myself and DH included) to say in my house - words such as stupid, retard/ed, any racial slurs, ugly words referring to homosexuals, etc. I'm quick to call out anyone, adult or child, who uses those words around me. I also don't use the word b!tch, because I think it's an awful thing to call another woman...as bad as calling her a whore or something similar.

Now, as to the others, I don't really consider them "bad words," just a way to express frustration or anger. Since they tend to carry a lot of weight, I try to reserve them for intense situations, not just throw them around in everyday conversation. When I was growing up, my parents taught me to try to find other ways of expressing myself, but if I threw out a "swear word" in the heat of the moment, I usually wasn't punished for it (unless we were arguing and it was directed at them). For example, in 8th grade I tore three ligaments in my right ankle during a volleyball game, and when my mom and the coach ran over to carry me off the court, I shouted "Don't move me, it f-ing hurts!" Later, at the hospital, I apologized, but my mom said she understood.

I think that not making a big deal about swear words and limiting their use around me made me understand that there was a time and a place for that sort of language, so it was never a big thing with me growing up. I hope that by taking the same sort of approach with my children, they won't grow up cursing like sailors. But as to the first set of words I mentioned - use of those will be punished in my house.

DH works in the construction industry, and I can always tell when he's spent the day on a job site (instead of in the office), because every other word rhymes with duck. I frequently have to remind him about "little ears"...he seems to be doing better, so I hope that it'll continue to change as DS gets older.

[Fairy]

I LOVE THIS. I'm using it. Um ... out of earshot of DS, of course!