We Do Not Say the F-Word!

The other day, the kids were playing and Andrew ran up to me in the kitchen proclaiming, "Eamon said the F-word!!"

I was shocked (where had he heard that word?) and marched into the family room to confront my little culprit.  "Eamon, did you say a potty word ?"

"Yes..." came his reply as he sheepishly looked at the ground. 

"But where on earth did you hear that word?", I asked. 

"All the kids at school say it", he answered.

I was stunned, considering we send the kids to a Catholic school.  As I sent Eamon to time-out and was about to dole out his punishment (losing his nightly tv show), Maggie walked by saying "We do NOT say The F-word.  We do not say FART!"

I tried to contain my giggles as soon as I heard that my kid's definition of the F-word was much different than mine - thanks be to God!  And then I realized that there are a lot of forbidden words in the Martin House that could be confused with society's curse words.  For example, in this house, the naughty words include:

The S-word: Not as in the saying S--- Happens, but Stupid

The H-word: Not the opposite of Heaven, but Hate

The B-word: Not a female dog, but Butt

The D-word: Not like D---Yankees, or a nickname for Richard, but Dumb

Considering neither Phil nor I curse, I hope our kids don't learn the really bad words until much later in life, and then will know better than to repeat them.  My Dad told us when we were kids that the day we heard him swear was the day we were allowed to swear.  And guess what...I never heard him swear - and he was a contractor!  I never heard my mother swear either, so maybe there is some truth to setting a good example :)