GummibearGate – Kids and Swearing
Do you get all <catbum mouth> at people who swear at their children? You are not alone if you do. Who would not look disapproving at someone shouting and swearing at their child?
Who would not judge that person as a Bad Mother for using bad language, for shouting at a poor little innocent child.
If you had observed me on our trip to Germany, you would have judged me and found me wanting.
But stop for a moment and think. This post is not about parents who verbally abuse their children, who shout and swear day in, day out. But about the parents who lose their temper and patience after a day of being ignored by their stubborn 7 year old son who will NOT do anything on the first telling. Or the parents who are on an eight hour journey with squabbling children.
We were on such a journey. For the first hour they watched a film, then they listened to music and chatted reasonably amicably. When they started to get bored and grumpy, I shared gummibears, reaching back between the seats with handfuls of bright coloured sweets.
Contrary to British expectations, I was not whizzing along the German Autobahn, but tensely trying to stay in the narrowed lane of a massive tangle of roadworks. The lorries and buses on my right side were too close for comfort, and I would normally not try to overtake on such narrow lanes, but I was trying to keep up with my husband in our veteran MGB, who was in turn struggling to keep the car going. It was making strange noises and he was concerned that he would break down in the middle of these roadworks, with no hard shoulder.
So to say I was slightly stressed is an understatement. My 9 year old daughter dropped a gummibear on the floor, it landed at my son’s feet.
“Leave it, I will give you another one”, I instructed, but she ignored me.
“I want my gummibear back. Give me it back, it is right there”, she instructed her brother.
He bent and picked it up then handed her the gummibear. “That is not my gummibear. I had a green one. This one is yellow. I want my gummibear”, she whined.
Her brother countered, “No. It was a yellow one. You dropped a yellow one”, in his most stubborn tone. The there-is-no-arguing-with-me-tone.
There followed a swiftly escalating drama, with whining, shouting, accusations and name calling.
“OK. ENOUGH. It doesn’t matter. Here is the bag of gummibears, chose the colour you want and stop the shouting”.
“But I just wanted my own gummibear back, he should give me it”.
“I DIDN’T take your stupid gummibear. I told you”.
“Yes you did. It was green. I saw it when it fell. I had a green one and I want my green one back”.
I swerved to avoid crashing into a lorry. “RIGHT. STOP IT. It doesn’t matter what colour of FUCKING gummibear he gave you. JUST EAT IT”.
Whoops. So not only did I shout at my 9 year old, I also swore at her.
And now, a couple of day later, I have to admit that the thought of it makes me laugh. I have no idea if they realised what I had said (and I like to think that they are naive enough not to know the F word) or if they will remember the moment later in life, but it certainly shut them up.
I am not perfect. I am a mother not a martyr. I make mistakes. I shout at my children, and for an outsider it may look mean or abusive. But it doesn’t happen every day, and I have never sworn at them before.
My children are loved, and they know they are loved. They are not going to be scarred by a few incidents in their childhood when their mother lost her temper. I just hope they don’t start to talk about “fucking gummibears”.
PS Remind me to tell you about the return journey and the banana saga …
17 Comments
Jo
This really made me laugh, brightened my evening. I have a hole in my tongue from biting it today as i had to go grocery shopping with all 6 of my ‘lovely’ children in tow. After 2 weeks of them getting a long just fine with each other they some what misguidedly decided that whilst i’m trying to do a weekly shop with trolley and wheelchair in tow it would be a really good time to declare war with one and other and bicker for the whole duration ! In my head i was swearing like a docker, i didn’t slip today but i occasionaly am guilty of having done so in the past, very rarely but it’s happened, they wouldn’t dare repeat and they don’t seem scarred either thankfully 🙂
mmelindor
My goodness. I hate shopping with my two, couldn’t even imagine taking six children to the supermarket. Aside from anything else, they take advantage of my willingness to give in to anything in order to be finished quickly. We generally come home with lots of yogurt and sweet cereal that I don’t normally buy.
Glad you survived the outing.
Jo
P.s please do share the return journey and the banana saga !
Eggdipdip
I once shouted at my (then) 3 year old as he was throwing a massive lying-down-fists-thumping humg dinger of a tantrum. In the middle of Hamleys. I told him to ‘stop being such a bloody child’. He didn’t even want to go to Hamleys in the first place!
mmelindor
Hahaha. That is excellent.
Great stories for when they are adults and have their own children.
Little Me
I’m worried that my baby’s first words are going to be “damn dog”.
I don’t judge people for swearing front of their kids as long as (a) it’s not against them and by that I mean “you stupid little shit (my dad’s favourite)” because that’s abusive, obviously, or (b) it’s not all the time.
I think in your case you just, in fact, showed your children when it is appropriate to swear, because sometimes there really is no better word. Swear responsibly – ooh that sounds like a slogan for a campaign.
That said, I really have to cut down before my daughter starts speaking…
Michelle
Great story and yes I have 4 ranging from 1-7. Jo – i think you deserve a medal taking your 6 to the supermarket. The thought of taking all mine to Asda terrifies me! It is hard though and I will be honest and say I am nowhere near perfect and sometimes the odd word does slip out. Yes I shout a lot and when they are all asleep in bed at night I kick myself for tending to shout too much.
mmelindor
Ah, we all do it and we all worry about it.
As long as the hugs outweigh the shouts, you are doing fine.
mmelindor
Yes, there is a big difference between swearing at the child, as in the example you give and swearing randomly.
My children are used to me swearing at other drivers, then turning to them and saying, “That is a bad word, don’t use it”. I did say that I wouldn’t swear once I had children .
Helen
Ahh it’s so nice to read this knowing I’m not the only one! What is it about 9 year old girls and whining, mine has got worse since she turned 9 and is always fighting and bickering with her brother. Knowing my luck though that ‘f’ word would be the one word that my 2 year old would pick up on and it would be fuckin gumibears for the rest of the journey!
mmelindor
I love the idea of a 2 year old saying ,”fucking gummibears” all day. Wouldn’t that impress my mother-in-law.
Original mama k
You’re only human, and technically you didn’t swear at herm, you swore in conversation with her ;). Trying to max out my swear words before my 10 month old can talk…
mmelindor
Ha. Yes, good point. I will use that in my defence when my mum reads this blog post.
Granny
Loved the gummi bear story. Look forward to hearing the banana story. Reminds me of when you and brother were ine the back of the car.
Jess
Oh lol!Do you think there should be a title for that end of tether swearing!
And in the car it does seem to bleep out 🙂
I work in a nursery and just recently a little one came out with a few choice words.When we said
they should not say them,the child said “But Grandad does when he’s driving”
We had to silently smirk!
mmelindor
I hate to think what my kids have revealed about our family life in school.
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