Kids Say the Darndest Things - Embarrassing moments for Moms

Kids say the darndest things and often it's embarrassing and surprising, some more than others.  Funny story:  Back in a former life, when I was doing something else for a living, I had a client who had dropped by school to pick up her 5 yr old before coming to see me. Once in the office, as we were talking, she casually asked her daughter what she had learned in school that day to which the 5 yr old excitedly replied, "I learned the F word today!".

I thought this woman was going to have a coronary; she almost fell off the chair.  She was able to compose herself long enough to ask her daughter what, in fact, the F word was.  The 5 yr old half covered her mouth, and giggling replied, "Fart", hee hee hee! The relief that washed over this woman's face was comical....but only if it's not your kid...right?

Young children have little impulse control and have not cultivated empathy for other's feeling yet so things just fly out of their mouths. Babble child development suggests, if they're saying something about someone loudly it's best to get down on their level and tell them quietly "You are right." and tell them you'll talk about it when you leave. 

If they are cursing, don't place too much attention on the particular word and try and distract them to another topic until later when you can talk to them and tell them that is a word we don't use in our family. If they realize they're getting a reaction, they may just use it more often for attention. Just another challenging aspect of raising little darlings!