I’ve been known to drop a few swear words in my life.
Okay so maybe more than a few.
But I had some good teachers.
There’s been many stories shared over the years.
But one that sticks in my mind involves me sitting on the front fence and showing off my fine verbal skills to the young troublemakers of our neighborhood, who in turn apparently found me hilarious.
And so it seems I’ve never really looked back.
Now with lots of little people in my life, including my own little person, I’m doing my best to cut back on the swearing.
I’m not going to lie, it’s a habit that’s tricky to break. Especially when I’ve had a sh.. sorry bad day.
So I’ve been doing some swapping of words when the need arises….which is more frequently than I anticipated.
Sugar Honey Ice and Tea replaces the popular word that also means poo (insert giggle here).
Fudge slips out instead of the well-known f-bomb.
And peed takes care of that word some also use to say they’re drunk or angry.
Sometimes completely obscure words pop out as I realise what I’m about to say and I’ve also resorted to the use of cheeky monkey and ratbag instead of “little sugar honey ice and tea” (I’m sure you get the picture).
I probably sound ridiculous using the alternatives but I figure it’s a lot better than our Little Miss adopting a bad habit at such a young age (and taking after her mother).
I’m not completely naive, I know she’s likely to hear it from other adults and children at some point but I’m willing to give anything a go, no matter how silly I sound.
If all else fails there’s always the option of threatening to wash her mouth out with soap.
For me the foul taste of Tobasco sauce is still strong in my mind after my parents decided they’d had enough of my swearing.
I swear (pun intended) I ate half a tube of toothpaste to try and get rid of the taste off my tongue.
Our little munchkins certainly learn their habits from us and I think I’m going to have to keep reminding myself every time I feel the words forming on my lips.
But before I wrap up, I feel I should take the opportunity here to drag my husband into the mix (I can picture him rolling his eyes already).
Contrary to popular belief, a few unsavoury words have been known to roll off his tongue as well.
So if our darling daughter happens to drop the f-bomb one day, don’t be too quick to point the finger of blame squarely in my direction…..