It's a Curse

So everyone who knows Mitch and I on a personal basis also knows that we sometimes are not the most eloquent with our language.  In other words, we swear.  I know, I know, it's normal. Most people let loose on occasion with an "s-bomb" or an "f'n heimer".  We never had kids and didn't have many friends who did, so we usually had no problem letting it fly.  Even when Kefelen first joined our family, he didn't speak English, right?  He couldn't decipher one word from the next.  We could be loose and free with our "grammar".  Even if he did repeat something he had no idea what it meant and we could always tell people he was saying something else. It was the accent or language acquisition or a word in Amharic or his native language of Kembatsa.  

Fast forward 9 months to the living room floor and an intense session of Lincoln Logs with Dad. Building building higher and higher...and crash. Out comes the "g-d" from my child's cherubic lips.  One more try, one more crash and "s--t" comes tumbling out.  Thank goodness for Mitch because I hid my face laughing while he gave a very fatherly dissertation about how, yes, we sometimes say these things, and we're wrong, and Kef shouldn't say them either.  I am now terrified of the parent/teacher conference coming up on Saturday. Here's what I fear... "Um, Mr. and Mrs. Martin, Kefelen is really progressing, making friends, fine tuning his motor skills and, um, there seems to be a bit of a swearing problem."  

We really are good parents and we really care for our child and want the best for him. We have just had too many adult years free from the ears of children.  It's an addiction.  Nothing feels better in a stressful situation that a good naughty word with just the right emphasis.  How do we curb it? What can take it's place?  Is there some sort of support group.  We both kicked the smoking habit years ago.  Can we kick this?  S--t.  It's going to be tough.

Mitch and I on Halloween 2004. Pre-children and full of "naughty" words.