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What Did You Just Say?!

June 20, 2009 by Janice

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What have you accidentally taught your kids?!?

This week at Guideposts, I posted about what I taught my daughter to say.

What Did You Just Say?!

Learning the hard way to watch what we say to kids

“Darn it!” my 21-month-old toddler announced. “Daaarn it…darn it,” she tested out the words, enjoying her latest vocabulary accomplishment.

“What did you just say, Olivia?” I turned in shock to my 7-year-old son. “Did she just say, ‘Darn it?'” Jackson cracked up, “Yes, she did!” Laughing, he encouraged his sister, “Darn it, Olivia, say, ‘Darn it!'”

And Olivia parroted away, “Darn it, darn it, darn it.”

“Oh, no!” I was not happy! “No, Livvie, don’t say that. Jackson—please don’t encourage it.”

I honestly wasn’t sure how Livvie had learned it. I don’t say it that often, do I?

Later that evening, I got my answer. As Olivia dumped her yogurt drink down her shirt, I exclaimed in exasperation, “Darn it, Olivia!” And then I stopped in horror. Oh, my goodness! Not only do I say darn it, I say it to her!

It’s amazing how often we let our bad habits slip by unnoticed until we see them repeated by our children. Suddenly, our little sins aren’t so harmless; they’re powerful and embarrassing!

Some days it’s a good thing that our kids are constantly learning from us. And on other days, we may need to learn from them!

When we hear our children argue, complain, gossip, swear or lie, are they reflecting the model that we present?…

Click here to finish reading at Guideposts.com…

Written by Janice.
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Janice is co-founder of 5 Minutes For Mom. She's been working online since 2003 and is thankful her days are full of social media, writing and photography.

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11 Comments

  1. Jennifer, Snapshot says

    June 21, 2009 at 7:46 pm

    Ha — this sounds JUST like me! We don’t curse around here, and when I started hearing my son say “Darn it!” when he was frustrated it made me glad, but I also realized that even tame outbursts like that don’t sound so great (especially when they come from a 3 year old!)

    Reply
  2. Angie says

    June 21, 2009 at 7:27 pm

    You are so right about this topic! Kids can and will repeat everything the hear from us. My 5 year old got really frustrated the other day and yelled out “darn it”. I look at her and said “what did you just say?” and had to explain that we don’t say that. We really have to watch what we say around them.

    Reply
  3. Storm says

    June 21, 2009 at 6:48 pm

    Out of the mouths of babes, as they say. Lol. It could be a whole lot worse. I wouldn’t worry about it so much.

    Reply
  4. Jessica says

    June 21, 2009 at 4:07 pm

    I definitely hear you on that!! There are habits and words from my 2 year old that he SO clearly gets from me/my husband that I’m not proud of and am working harder on myself to be a better example to our children!

    The total flip side is seeing the boys imitate me in GOOD ways that I didn’t know they were watching. The two year old comforting the one year old in the same manner I do, the one year old knowing some letter sounds because he’s seen the two year old and I work on it. Bible songs I have song once or twice to the two year old and he knows all the words to them… things like that are a real encouragement to my heart.

    And what an example it is to my own children when I am able to turn to them and say “I am sorry, I was wrong. Please forgive me.” Perfection won’t happen to me on this earth!

    Reply
  5. Lindsey says

    June 21, 2009 at 3:04 pm

    Oh dear, I’m so with you on this! My daughter isn’t talking (too much) yet but I’m starting to think about what I say more now. Pretty soon she’ll be mimicking and I don’t think a two-year-old saying “crap” or “darn” is too attractive, lol. We try to replace it with other stuff – I need to make it a habit NOW!

    Reply
  6. Toddler Craft Onna says

    June 21, 2009 at 2:28 pm

    They do hear everything!! Even when we don’t think that they are listening!! I have frequently heard them mimick things I say. I never realized how much I say the word actually, until I heard my daughter using (correctly!) over and oveR!! We all make mistakes. The important thing is that we realize it and learn from it.

    Reply
  7. Laura W. says

    June 21, 2009 at 12:57 am

    Haha, just yesterday we were driving and my 3 year old daughter exclaimed, “ohhhh, crap!” Oops. 🙂

    Reply
  8. Kara says

    June 20, 2009 at 9:52 pm

    Ugh, I hate when my kids copy stuff I know I shouldn’t say/do lol. The other day my 4yr old was making really annoying sounds and I finally got tired of it and shouted “Shut up!” Of course my 3yr old promptly repeated “Yeah, shut up Jason!” And I had to smack myself on the head and explain that we should say “Please be quiet” lol.

    Reply
  9. susieshomemade says

    June 20, 2009 at 4:55 pm

    I know…I haven’t been on this best behavior since I was a kid:-) Hee, hee, hee.

    Reply
  10. Miranda says

    June 20, 2009 at 4:21 pm

    I just blogged about the same thing. Children are so innocent that sin is so much more obvious from them than me.

    http://sippycupsandfingerprints.blogspot.com/2009/04/habits-of-forgetful-toe-stubbing-mommy.html

    Reply
  11. Janice says

    June 20, 2009 at 3:26 pm

    And I promise… it really was “darn” not the other one… 😉

    Reply

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