Laundry and Language

Today was the first day back to school for my son and I was beside myself as I can finally step out of the teacher role and just be MOM! No more afternoon tutoring sessions and no more needing to fill the days with educational activities. The first thing I did was go to the gym (and I didn't have to worry about childcare).   Then had a lunch date with my hubby! I can't tell you the last time I was able to meet him at his office for lunch!!! I feel a huge sense of relief knowing my son is in VERY capable hands at his school.

Don't get me wrong.  I missed my son today.  In fact I was early to the bus stop and waited for a half hour in 90F+ heat for him to finally come home (which, incredibly, wasn't until 4:15pm!).  When I met him I had our trusty Doxie with me so my son suggested we take B. for a walk.  On our walk we came across a screen in the sun with lots of strips of what seemed to be red peppers.  My son took one look at it and said, "What the h - e - l - l is that!"  Um, what!  First day back to school and he comes home swearing, NOT good.  Instead of getting angry with him I told him it was time to go back home, since I was dying of the heat.

While my son took his shower I prayed for some wisdom on how to handle this one.  I remember getting into major trouble in elementary school because some girl taught my how to hold my middle finger up just as the cafeteria lady came walking by.  The school refused to believe my mom that I had no idea what it meant and made me sit by myself at lunch the next day.  My mom was great and came and sat with me.  Needless to say, it was a bit of a traumatic experience and one in which I would hate for my son to have.

My inspiration came while looking at the load of laundry sitting on my bed.  My son LOVES to help put clothes away (I am praying that lasts a LONG time) so I thought maybe we could have a conversation about swear words while we fold and put away laundry.  "Okay God," I prayed, "I need your help with this one.  Help me to be wise in my words so that my son understands these are things NOT to say to others."

So, we had a discussion about language over a pile of laundry.

I don't know how much of our conversation sank into my son's brain.  I may get a call from the school tomorrow saying my son was swearing up a storm, but I am praying that is not the case.  Hopefully he got the message from my story about what happened to me and he won't say things he should not say.  One way or another I can rest easily tonight knowing my son at least knows what the "F word" is (kinda, that's a hard one to explain to a 6 year old) and that calling ladies a "female dog" is a really bad idea.  My prayer, above all else, is that he understands we need to be kind to others because Jesus was kind to us and died for the wrong things we do each day.  If nothing else, I know he learned that being smart means not using provocative language, but rather using the plethora of adjectives available to us in the English language.

I think my mom and my English teacher would be proud.