What NOT to Do

You read the books, you take advice, you decide what you "should" and "shouldn't" do as parents. Then something happens and all of that flies out the window - your kid says "damnit." Gabby picked this word up at a young age - like 17 months or something. She went through her phase of saying it all the time and we just ignored it. Eventually, it dropped out of her vocab for the most part and it seemed like something of the past...until it came back last night.

Kenton was in the kitchen cleaning up from dinner and accidentally spilled a glass bottle, shattering it all over the floor. Gabby asked what happened and when we told her, she responded, "Damnit. Damnit Daddy. Damnit." At least she uses it in context. She's grammatically correct if not anything else.

As good parents, we probably should have just ignored it again, but we of course did not (and by saying "we," I mean Kenton). In true form, he grabs the video camera covertly (we at least knew enough not to let her know we were video-taping her) and starts asking her questions about where she heard that word and how we shouldn't say it. At one point Gabrielle even says she learned the word from her friend Laney (which is a great "out" for us, but so not true - have no fears Leslie). I try to support him in his efforts, only to end up laughing in the kitchen, hiding behind cabinets, while cleaning up the glassy mess. It didn't help that Kenton decided to tell Gabby it was ok to say "damn dog." He probably won't think it is so funny when she busts that word out at church someday.

So anyway, here's what we captured on tape. Ignore the Blair Witch shakiness. Try to go about your day remembering that even good parents do naughty things.