Need a censor
Over the last few months, friends and family members have told us that sometime around the one-year mark, L would enter into a phase that can best be described as “parroting.” During this phase, they warned, the baby could mimic just about anything Powergirl and I said.
This possibility was daunting; because my wife and I are both Italians from New York, we speak like sailors, and that’s not the kind of stuff you want a kid mimicking.
The parroting hadn’t started by the time I left for a business trip on Wednesday. By the time I returned yesterday, however, our little bird-loving L had become a little birdie herself, and is now chirp-chirping stuff she hears us saying.
She’s not mimicking everything; instead, she’ll echo random words, without warning.
Today, for instance, my second day solo with the baby since coming home, she learned “clock” and the color, “red,” in this fashion. She also managed to say, “tree,” “truck” and “brachycephalic.” (OK, she didn’t actually say “brachycephalic,” I’m just making sure you’re all paying attention.)
Yesterday, I swear she said, “wine.” Yet she also tried to mimic another word I uttered while attempting to change her diaper. That word had four letters, started with s and ended with t.
Thankfully, she couldn’t master the curse. But the fact that she tried makes it clear: Now, more than ever, Powergirl and I need to watch what we say. We’ve discussed fining each other for foul language around the kid. We’ve also contemplated cursing in other languages for a while.
How did you readers tackle this delicate situation? Is there any hope for foul-mouthed New York transplants such as us?
My husband swears like a sailor, also, and it was the same thing when our first one was little–we kept telling him that our boy was going to start repeating what he said, and he’d laugh and say, “Yeah, yeah, I know.” That was, until the first time he took our son out in public and he chanted “F***! F***! F***!” to everyone he saw. Luckily, it was easy to correct; we just calmly (being calm and NOT laughing is important) told him that saying that word is not nice and he shouldn’t do it. We also told him Daddy shouldn’t say those words, and we needed HIM to help remind Daddy. Now, every time my husband utters a swear word in front of our kids, we have our own personal obscenity police. My son will chime in with something like, “Oh, Daddy, you shouldn’t say that!” or “That word hurts my FEELINGS, Dad!”
Anyway. Just calmly correcting the behavior and then trying to curb your own language will help. But I think every kid probably goes through this…everyone swears even if they like to pretend they don’t!
Wandered over from Mommy Wants a Drink