Friday, Part II

Later, that same afternoon...

My son rushes into the house from playing outside with all the neighborhood kids and asks me, "what's the "f" word?"

Ok, so I'm thinking I'm going to pass out, because I'm so NOT prepared to answer this question. I look at my watch. My husband hasn't even left work yet. Great. I'm in this one alone.

Me: "Why do you ask?" I've found this to be an effective first question.

He launches into this huge story of some high school kid outside that actually said the phrase "the "f" word" -not THE actual word, so that is somewhat of a relief. I mean, I realize I can't protect him from this forever, but he's seven. I thought I had a couple more years.

Anyway, one of the kids told a parent, then the parent came out and there was apparently some big scene outside. (How do I miss everything?) The parent asked all the kids who said it, and they all shook their heads "no", and I guess someone mentioned the high schooler. Then there was this "mom showdown" outside with the high schooler's mom and the parent. My son came home after that.

(I realize my son makes up things (see earlier post on "pregnancy"), but this was the truth... I don't think he could make something up that was this elaborate.)

Then, he asked me again what the word was.

Him: "Do you know what it is?"

Me: "Uh...um...." (I'm so good at stalling. Just so very good.) "I have an idea, but I'm not sure."

Ok, here's my reasoning on that answer. If I said "yes", he'd ask over and over and over what it is. I was hoping he'd back off, if I appeared unsure.

Him: "Can you call Daddy? I bet he would know."

So much for hoping he'll back off.

So, I go into this whole -there are certain words that aren't nice to say and they make you appear not-so-smart if you say them. (I knew that would get him, because he's big on being "smart".)

Him: "Oh, it's a word like "hate" and "stupid".

Since, I don't like him to use words like that (at least in reference to people), I was willing to go along with this.

Me: "That's right. It's just not nice. You are going to hear that word and several others (probably ones I've never heard) in years to come. Try to ignore it. Oh, and don't go around asking people what the "f" word is. It's just not something people really want to talk about."

The good news is that after this conversation was over, he never brought it up again this weekend.

I will be the first to admit that I have absolutely no idea how to handle that problem, so if I totally screwed up and said the wrong thing, then I'm sure I'll have another chance (unfortunately) in the near future to possibly get it right. Until then, I'll just give this whole ordeal a little more thought.