Bad word bowl

I've always been pretty good about watching my language around kids. I have years of babysitting and camp counseling and teaching/librarian-ing that trained me. I never even was a big curser...I kind of used it to embellish stories rather than blurt it out when upset.

Boy howdy, how things have changed. Jeff mentioned it to me, and now I am more aware of how often I get frustrated and slip. "Shit" "Crap" "Damnit"...no "f-bomb" thank heavens. Usually I think it's not that bad...I just curse when the kids are really pulling my chain and driving me to the edge of sanity. But apparently that edge is closer than I realized and I teeter over it multiple times a day.

Yesterday, Andrew was playing his DS after doing his homework. His little character fell into a pit and Andrew said, "Oh, crap."

I closed his DS and said, "We need to have a talk."

Andrew looks sheepishly at me, "What? What did I do?"

Me- "You just used inappropriate language. Crap isn't a horrible word, but it isn't a nice word and people will think differently about you if you start to use it a lot. And it will get to be a bad habit. Mommy has been using words like that too much and I need to break my habit. How about we make a "bad word bowl"? When you catch Mommy saying something that isn't nice, I have to put money in the bowl. At the end of the week/month/whatever, you get to spend it on anything you want. BUT, if I catch YOU saying something inappropriate, I get to take some of my money back. What do you think?"

Andrew- "Sounds okay."

Me-"Great! Let's think of what words will make me put money in the bowl. Can you think of a word that is bad that Mommy says a lot?"

Lily- "I know one!"

Me (inwardly cringing because my 3 year old is about to show me the bad language I've taught her)- "Okay, Lily. Tell me the bad word you hear Mommy say a lot."

Lily- "TIMEOUT"



My heart-to-heart talk with Andrew is abandoned as I can't keep from laughing. Yes, Lily, Timeout is a bad word...to YOU...but it is generally accepted in regular society.