It's OK to swear around your kid - you are totally normal!

I'm pretty sure that my baby's first words will be along the lines of "what the fuck".  When I mentioned this possibility to my father, he calmly suggested that it's more likely to be "douche bag".  My husband is betting on "balls", but that's just because we play episodes of Big Bang Theory all the time.

The reality is, I swear around my kid all the time.  Not AT her, you understand, just around her.  I swear when my husband and I are discussing current events over breakfast.  To be honest, I think it's impressive we find the time to do that, with or without the smut.  I swear when I chat with my girlfriends.  I swear when I drive.  A lot, actually.  And very creatively.

My daughter is with me pretty much 24-7, so she hears all of it.

I have tried cleaning up my language around her, but it's just not working.  Sometimes it makes it worse.

So I have decided to just be OK with it.  Yeah, it's not going to win me any mother of the year awards, but it keeps me sane.  And I figure if my kid hears this from me, rather than some snot-nosed little jerk in kindergarden, then so be it.

The thing is, we do all sorts of things around our kids that we don't want them to do.  We drink, park badly, j-walk, eat junk food, wear overly sexy clothes, smack our partner's ass when they are wearing particularly fetching pants...  I don't want my daughter to do any of that, but it doesn't mean I'm going to stop.

And when eventually she does start doing those things, is it really so bad for her to see them as a normal part of being an adult?  I mean, she's going to do them anyway...

If swearing is as integral to your personality as it is to mine, I say don't worry about it too much.  I don't think your little treasure will be telling these stories to their therapist some day.

Maybe try to clean up the worst of it.  For example, the other day some lady cut me off and I almost called her a syphilitic whore.  But my daughter was in the back seat.  So I just implored the driver to remove her head from her sphincter.  I may have also maligned her parentage a bit.

But I think my little girl is more likely to remember the music class we went to, and the book we read after, and the cuddles on the sofa after that.  I love her, and I'm pretty sure she loves me, filthy mouth and all.