Another Milestone

Barely a month into the new year, Elijah reached a new milestone: having strangers give his dad a dirty look because his 5-year-old uttered an "expletive deleted" in a public place.

Both Sarah and I knew this was going to occur sooner rather than later, as he has been walking around the house saying "God dammit" for a couple of days now -- not in anger, just as part of his everyday conversation. Since Sarah and I blame each other for teaching Elijah his latest catchphrase (she claims her cussing is not nearly that mild, and I have a selective memory about any cursing I might do around our child), we asked where he had heard such a thing. His response was neither Mom nor Dad, but that purveyor of vile language, Scooby-Doo.

Now I'll admit that cartoons have gotten a little more risque since my youth, but I doubt that any of the gang, while trying to solve some mystery, got frustrated and said the magic words.

Sarah and I let it slide, and today, while in our local market, it came back to bite us. Or, rather, me, since Sarah was safely at work. I had told Elijah to stay by the shopping cart about ten times already and was beginning to lose my patience. Needing to get just one more item, I told him again, in a stern voice, to stand by the cart and not to move. As I walked away he said, to no one in particular -- and, I might add, in a very cheerful voice -- "God dammit ... God dammit," which caught the ear of a woman standing in the aisle.

If looks could kill, I would have been dead. She just stared at me as if I was not only the worst parent in the world, but should be hauled away by social services immediately. I wanted to walk right up to her, look her square in the eye and say, "Don't blame me. It's all Shaggy's fault."