by Robert Hill

Created on: January 21, 2008

Well having a toddler is an adventure in and of itself. My little girl is five now, and I haven't been allowed to see her since she was three. One of the last times I had her for the weekend was one of the best and worst days for a parent. We were on our way to my place for the weekend. I have a very slight problem with bad drivers, when I say slight I tend to cuss them without even knowing I am. This day was funny for the simple fact it was just another memory of how little any of us really know about parenting.

We were about four or five miles from home and I got behind a little old lady, you know the ones where all you can see is blue hair and knuckles. So there we are going over the mountain behind this woman not really paying attention to her at all. I was talking to my daughter about her day at day care. Asking all the questions I thought were of importance. You know what she had for lunch, how her nap was, what she learned that day. She was in the process of answering my questions when I started cussing this little old lady for driving to slow. Well my daughter being only three, knew exactly what I was saying, which is not a good thing. I try and always have tried not to use that kind of language around children. She repeated exactly what I said, I asked if she knew that she should not say those things. She looked at me like well you said it. So I explained her why it was not right for her nor I to say those things. She asked if I was mad at her, of course not, i told her it wasn't her that was making me mad but the lady in front of us. So she proceeded to cuss this woman like a sailor. When she was done with this little rant of hers, I was laughing. As I got control of myself I asked her where in this world she had heard such things, she told me her mommy. So again I explained to her that those were not nice words and she shouldn't use them. I told her that if her mother used them that was fine but that I never wanted to hear those words form her mouth again. She agreed and asked if I was upset with her, again I told her that I wasn't. She asked me if I was upset with her mommy, and I told her the truth, and the truth was I was upset with her mother. She understood that she had said things that she shouldn't have and that it wasn't her that I was angry with. It's amazing that a child can understand these things and yet it takes most adults a lifetime to figure them out. I was always amazed at how smart my daughter was when I was around her, her understanding of things that I had only really began to understand.

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