What Did You Just Say?

I have a sailor’s mouth. My husband, has it even worse. But, we try our best to NOT let our potty mouths get the best of us when Emery is in hearing distance. Lately, that’s become quite the task since she seems to be able to hear EVERYTHING. Any little slip up, and she’s repeating them. The other morning, my husband was searching for his wallet, and out of frustration he let out the f-bomb. Emery was asleep. But he said it loud enough that it woke her up. She opened her eyes, sat straight up, and said “Dad. F**k!” (pause) Yea... I quickly said “No baby, Daddy said truck.” She gave me this look like she knew I was lying, laid back down, and said “truck” once before going back to sleep.

Now, as much as we try to watch our language how do we get this message across to other people? Some of our close friends, we’ll just come out and say “Hey! Language!” and that’s totally fine. They get it. But what do we do about others? And how am I suppose to teach her to not call others names, if she hears other people saying it? This passed Wednesday morning, on our ride to the sitters, she said “Ugh! Stupid, Mommy.” I quickly said “No, Emery, we don’t call people that.” But clearly, she’s heard someone call another person stupid before. It was in the way that she said it too. All bossy, and annoyed. And, I have no idea how to 1) Figure out who it is she’s hearing this from. and 2) Even begin to address the issue. She’s around a lot of people on a daily basis, and sometimes even my dad might say something along those lines while yelling at the TV (football season). And what if it’s one of the sitter’s kids? I can’t ask them to watch their language. They aren’t my kids.

Emery’s language is important to me. I want her to learn as much as she can, and so far she’s like a sponge. She’ll repeat pretty much anything! And recently, she’s started learning words to songs! But, what I don’t want Emery going around doing is calling people stupid or retards. I don’t want her dropping f-bombs like it’s nobody’s business. And really, we’re trying our best to not let any slip ups happen from us. But it’s a great big world, and I can’t be there every time some else slips up. I can’t force everyone that comes in contact with her to watch their language. So how do I correct this? How do I address the issue, with a two year old, when she hears certain words being used freely? And what exactly is the “right punishment” for this? If any deserves to be handed out at all.