Embarrassing 3rd Grade Moment

Tonight while I was making dinner, Kt came up to me and asked, "Mom, do you know how to play the Name Game?" I told her I did, and reminded her that we used to sing that when she was little. I then proceeded to sing it with her name in it. She then says, "Did you know that if you use the name 'Chuck' it makes you say a swear word?" I then sang it, in my own way, without saying a swear word, and told her you didn't have to say that word if you didn't want to, all the while wondering how she knew that was a swear word but assuming she'd learned it from her friends.

Then came the big question, the one I was not completely prepared for, but it was honest and fair. "Mom? How come you and dad never taught me the swear words?" I had to hold in my laughter, but I know I did at least crack a smile. I told her we had no reason to, that those words are disrespectful and their meanings are things we don't really want to talk about, specifically the one she had mentioned in the song above. I then asked her how she learned them. It goes something like this:

A "friend" says to her, "Kt, what is this word? [spelling out one of our wonderful curse words]" Kt replies, "It's @#$%." Everyone laughs, and it's obvious she has never heard the word, said the word or has any idea it's a bad word... until now! Third grade - gotta love it! Has she really made it this long in public school and never heard that word? All my attempts to steer her away from that kind of language at the mall, or in a restaurant or anywhere else we go has been successful? Wow, I'm pretty impressed, of course, at the expense of my daughter's social life!

Of course, we have talked about this all night. Are they really your friends if they do that to you? What can you do to be a good example yet still enjoy, have fun with your friends? Why don't we use those words around here? (OK, sometimes I slip, but I've never done it in front of my kids - apparently!) Kt, I'm sure, hasn't heard the end but only a mere snippet of what the rest of her public school days will encompass. Unfortunately, that kind of crude language is becoming more and more acceptable in everyday discourse. It's a sad statement about our society.

I must admit, having a key role in completely embarrassing my third grader was not as fulfilling as I thought it might be (totally kidding here), but if it has to be for something, this is one of those things I don't mind being associated with. I'm glad I didn't teach my children any curse words, but I guess now I might have to start filling in some of those blanks!