Naughty F Word.

Saturday night, on the way back from a hayride and potluck with friends, we played the letter game. This is a game that we started to help Colton and Calvin with their English letter sounds. Being that they are only learning in Chinese, their English sound scores were low last year. In the letter game we pick a letter/sound and think of all the words we can that start with that letter/sound. And, for example, if we use the K sound we also talk about how some words start with C and make the same sound. Even Carrera joins in on the game. This time we were using the "F" sound.

I am a very competitive person and I guess I must have been more competitive than is acceptable for Shane because he said "Why do you always have to be so fucking competitive." I'm sure I needed to hear it, but in my attempt to not bawl I shut up. A few minutes later Colton yells from the back of the van "Fucking!!...Mom! Fucking starts with F!" and then Calvin pipes up "Yeah! Fucking!" and lastly Carrera chips in. So all three of my kids are behind me saying "Fucking."

I'm not sure if Shane and I have ever really talked about our view on traditionally naughty words, but our philosophy I believe is the same. Neither of us believe that there are "bad words" just appropriate and inappropriate times to use them. And this is what we have taught our kids. I'll also add that some words are almost never appropriate for a child to use. Never, unless I guess they are learning their letters, and we are driving back from a long day and mom is trying not to cry. After at least a minute of my kids chorusing "fucking" my urge to cry ended and I laughed a hearty laugh, feeling no need to tell my kids that they are using a "bad" word.