Kids say the darndest things. Especially when they repeat things after you have said them. My daughter has recently started repeating something that I say quite often…and my wife doesn’t like it one bit.
Now I can be a somewhat vulgar person. I try not to be, but I’ve worked in the television industry for way to long to not have a potty mouth. So whenever I get riled up at home, I have to stop myself and I say “What the heck?” instead of “hell” or “fu_k” or any OTHER nasty words that might come spewing out in a fit of venom.
Well…my daughter has picked up on this, and adding re-enforcement to the habit is my 9 year old niece, who ALSO says “What the heck?” quite often! So now…Ava has double the amount of “WTH?” going on. So, naturally, she says it for just about anything.
I find it to be endearing, of course. But my wife always gives Ava the beatdown whenever she hears it. No need to be saying such things at the age of 4. But I would shudder at the OTHER option…especially since I’m the one who will occasionally let the “F” bomb fly! Makes “heck” seem so much more acceptable…right? LOL
A Round World Through Square Glasses 
I remember when I was a kid I thought “heck” was one of the forbidden words. If you recall, there was a store called “Heck’s” at the Sunrise Center (I think), and Kathy and I would sit in the back of the old Impala wagon staring at that store’s sign wondering how it was legal for them to use such a horrifying word as their name. Once mom finally explained it to us, we would drop “H-bombs” left and right. It was like finally getting to eat the forbidden fruit, all baked up in a nice warm pie.
Today I explain to my kids that their are BAD words (you know which ones I mean) and their are “impolite” words (like fart…ick, I feel uneasy even typing it). If they use a bad word, they are grounded for life (or until I forget what they are grounded for 90 minutes later). If they use an impolite word, they just have to suffer thru me frowning and slowly shaking my head in shame. [-X
LMAO – My 4-year-old niece reprimands me ALL the time for saying bad words, like stupid and shut-up! She is absolutely aghast when she catches me!
I used to make up completely silly “cuss words” when the kids were little.
“Frozen Monkey Toes!”
“Great Googledy Grapes!”
“Holy Baloney”
“Holy Macaroni”
You get the idea.
I say say BEANS!!! at work, because I’m on the floor and can’t say what I really want. And yes Mandy, HECK’S was at the Sunrise Center. I remember that, too.
Kathy, who we all know has such a tolerant nature, will say that stupid phone, or that stupid whatever, and Dia will say mommy you said a bad word. Stupid and Shut Up were always bad words in our home. Remember? Also the one that Mandy doesn’t want to type. That was “stinker”. My personal “cuss” word was Beetle Bailey’s “Durn-Burn”. Sorry Kathy, I taught Dia to say it, too.
Uh, and for the record, other than Alarik accidently mispronouncing something, I have NEVER heard my kids say a “bad” word. Someday they may sneak around cussing with their friends, but so far so good.