Tuesday, May 24, 2011

When do you have to Quit Swearing?

My kid is exactly 2 months old, so at what point do I have to quit swearing around the house? And I'm not talking about an "Oh shit!", a "Goddamnit!", and definitely not worried about "What the hell is going on?". I'm talking about jumping out of your chair in the living room and screaming at the Red Sox game, "Fuck you Derek Jeter, you fucking cocksucker mutherfucker!". Or spitting out your beer as you very clearly enunciate "LeBron James you cock-chugging asshole!". When do you have to begin cleaning that up a touch? Because right now I'm going about my business as though the child cannot understand anything I'm saying. And given what I know about the developmental stages of children, which is absolutely nothing, I am certain she isn't absorbing any of this. But at what point does "Art Modell can eat a bag of dicks in hell" register in their mind as being not typical of what other parents they know are shouting at a Monday night football game? That is my question. It really hit me the other day as I was on my own with the baby, attempting to parallel park in front of our favorite wine store (Father-Daughter time is going to be sacred on my watch). None of the jizz-mops behind me would allow me to complete the parallel as they all apparently had a 4-alarm fire to get to. As I rained down upon them vulgarities that would make General Patton blush, I saw my daughter out of the corner of my eye. She was obviously laughing hysterically and attempting to figure out which set of muscle contractions produce a middle-finger. But I realized, at some point this may have to end. Or at least be dialed down a notch. Profanity has always been a medium I enjoyed working in. Landing jobs in the trading industry has served to pour gasoline on the fire. It is one of the few industries left in America where one can, at any given moment, stand at their desk and yell "FUCK!" and spike their phone off the computer monitor. And I like that. But the first time I get called into a parent-teacher conference to be told my 6 year old daughter told a classmate to eat a bowl of shit, I might think otherwise. I guess all good things must come to an end.

3 comments:

  1. lol ... I enjoyed this greatly. In my experience, they register things MUCH earlier than you would expect - my little one learned to yell at the dogs while wagging his finger at them at the ripe old age of 4-5 months, and the day I bopped the dog on the nose with a toy he'd chewed up I suddenly opened Pandora's Box of giddy violence against dogs in my house.

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  2. Oh no, I was hoping more for like "1 year old"

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  3. well, my guy is a bit advanced for his age ... but then again, your daughter has that Stephen blood in her which means she will be too! :-)

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