Four-Letter Words

Lorelei's been begging us to get back into gymnastics, and so this summer, we finally signed her back up. After the first week back, I noticed that most of the summer staff was made up of giggly, energetic teenagers that seemed very well, for lack of a better word, teenagery, which got me thinking....

Because of course I want to encourage my kids to communicate with me, I said to Lor in the car on the way home, "You know, you can tell me if you ever hear the teenagers at the gym saying bad words or whatever. You wouldn't get in trouble, I want you to know you can always tell me when you see or hear stuff going on..... blah, blah, blah... " My point was that I want her to feel like she can tell me everything, all the stuff she sees and hears without feeling afraid that she's going to get into trouble. Are you with me parents?

So this week is our annual VBS week at church, basically free day camp for the neighborhood. We've had large amounts of kids from the nearby apartments walking over each day. My girls of course are involved, and somehow each year, I'm roped in to teaching one of the teams.

Long story short (TOO LATE), on the way home today, Lorelei said soberly, "Mom, I heard one the teenager boys say a bad word yesterday."

I remained calm, wondering inwardly if Lorelei even knows what bad words actually are and trying to figure out where she's learned them, "Oh really," I replied.

Lorelei nodded, and with a VERY serious look on her face, she said, "You know, the one that starts with a B...."

"Um, don't say it out loud, babe, wait till we stop for gas, and then you can whisper it to me, okay?"

We stopped, Lorelei approached me with a grave expression on her face, "Mom, that one boy, mom, he said.... you know.... 'butt.'"

"OOOOOHHHH, that B word. Well, thank goodness you told me!"

Thank you Lord for another day of childhood innocence. I know these days will be SHORT, but thank you that I still have a few left!