Scott and I tend not to talk about certain things around our children. Things we don't want them to repeat...to other people. Jonathan would have no qualms with politely asking "Bill" at the neighborhood BBQ if he is enjoying sleeping on the couch. And Destyni would quietly go up to her teacher and say in the most innocent of voices, "Mommy said you reminded her of a female dog but I don't see any resemblance to our dog."
So to completely avoid from ever, ever having these conversations we kick our children out of the room, away from the dining table or wait until they are sleeping before we have adult talk.
So we think we are good parents. What we do tend to say in front of our children is any word that you should not speak of in front of children. In our defense we don't even realize it until it happens... or until we get it right back in our faces. Words such as damn, while dropping something, shit, anytime we look at a clock..so on. But we haven't given Jonathan enough credit in the paying attention department.
I spell---anything I don't want our children to hear. P-A-R-K is one I use a lot. M-O-V-I-E is another. Now, Destyni is an amazing speller...but she hasn't caught on to my tricks yet. As soon as I start spelling I can see her brain working overtime to solve the letter mystery. But Mamma's smarter.. so I add words to make them long and confusing so that she can't grasp what I am saying. Example...
"Scott I was thinking of going to T-H-E-P-A-R-K"...See that's not a word. The downside, Scott SUCKS at spelling so I usually have to just tell him the word in the end anyway!!
Back to EFPQST!
Apparently Jonathan is under the illusion that when we spell it's a whole new adult language that only adults can talk about! Yesterday while a good friend of mine and her son were over visiting Jonathan asked if he and his friend could go upstairs to play in his room. Alyson was finally down for a nap so I told him he would have to wait until she woke up. He gave me a look and blurted out, " E F P Q S T!!!"
Then it dawned on me. I looked over at my friend who had the most confused look on her face, "I think Jonathan just told me to fuck off."
I won't be spelling any more words in this house...I am going to learn Pig Latin.
2 comments:
We used to do this around our three kids until our oldest, Jen, arose, in protest, from the dinner table one evening and said "fine, if you're gonna spell things out, we know you don't want us here. Let's go, Jill and John!"..and she led her siblings away, stomping her feet.
Then they hid down the hall, trying to hear our whispers.
Oodgay ucklay ithway ethay Igpay Atinlay ingythay!
Ugshay,
Attypay
Bahaha! Smart cookie!
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