The "G" Word

It is well known around our house that there are some words we just don't say. For example, we don't say "stupid" or "shut-up", and those are both referred to as the "s" words. Sometimes, for clarification, I might hear them as the "s-t" word or the "s-up" word. We also don't allow name calling. Well, Ben has allowed one name to be used if the kids really feel that they need to call their sibling a name--Nincompoop. Needless to say, we hear, "Jacob, you are a Nincompoop." Or "Annalisa is being a Nincompoop" quite often. And the #1 thing we don't allow is taking the Lord's name in vain. It is very important to understand that we don't just hold the kids to these rules....Ben and I follow them too. If there is a word or phrase we don't want to hear the kids using, they won't hear us using it either. How are we to be an example to our children if we don't practice what we preach? I know that as parents there are things we tell our kids they can't do, but we do all the time--like drink soda, or eat junk food--but it is very important to us to hold ourselves to the standard of speaking (or not speaking) only things that we would want our kids to imitate. After all, we are the ones they hear the most and we are the ones they are most likely to imitate.

So, one of the funny moments for me on New Year's Eve was when Annalisa came running in the kitchen gasping, "MOM! Cole said the 'G' word!!" This moment was not funny because of what was said, but because 0f how it was referred to by Annalisa...."the 'G' word". I must say that at first I was totally shocked thinking Cole had in some way used God's name in a non-honoring way, which is not at all like Cole. Actually it is very unlike any of my kids. They even get upset when they hear people on TV say, "Oh my God!" or anything like that.
Before I got onto Cole, I gently asked Annalisa, "The 'G' word? What word is that?"
She leaned over to my ear--we all know that when a bad word is going to be repeated it HAS to be whispered--and whispered, "Jerk!"
This goes into a whole separate blog about the English language! Why does giraffe sound like jerk but one starts with a "g" and the other starts with a "j"? We really need to get this all cleared up so our kids can know what letters the bad words start with!

P.S. For the longest time my kids thought Jesus started with a "g" because of the way you say it! Sort of like my name must be spelled K.C.