I have had many embarrassing moments throughout my life, as most people have. However, there is nothing like being embarrassed by one of your children to really take you to a whole new level of embarrassment. Those of you who have children, know that they are cute, precocious, and tend to have no filter when it comes to saying things out loud or repeating things that they heard from adults. I learned, the hard way, to be more careful of the things that I say in front of my children…
Last year, I was sitting in the livingroom having a conversation with my husband, as we often do on a regular basis. We were discussing the fact that my sister had been asking for my sons’ to sleep over her house and how we were hesitant about allowing that because we had an ongoing conflict with her boyfriend who lives in the house with her. Previously, he and my husband had had some words and her boyfriend had been disrespectful which created a rift in the family. As a result, my husband did not allow our sons to go over to my sister’s house due to not wanting them to be exposed to this guy.
As we were talking, my oldest son walked into the livingroom and caught the tail end of the conversation. He proceeded to ask us why he couldn’t go to his Aunt’s house. Obviously, it was inappropriate to discuss the reasons with him because he is only a child so we had to think up an excuse quickly that would satisfy his curiosity and get us out of the frying pan. I told him that my sister was having her house fumigated for roaches and that nobody could be in her apartment while the exterminators were doing that. This explanation seemed to be enough for him and he promptly walked off to play in his room.
A couple of weeks passed and my sister and mother were taking care of my sons, in my mother’s house, while my husband and I attended a special event. My sister proceeded to ask my son why he had not been to her house in such a long time and told him that she had missed him. Without missing a beat, my son proceeded to tell her that Mommy had said that nobody could go over to her house because her boyfriend was a roach and her apartment was being exterminated to get rid of him and the rest of the roaches. As you can all imagine, I had a lot of explaining to do in order to fix this miscommunication. You can rest assured that I am even more cautious now of the things that I discuss in front of my boys because the old saying is so true, “from the mouths of Babes…”
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Hehe-love kids & the way they hear & remember things.
That miscommunication gets us quite often.
Fun post!
Oh – you gotta love those moments really. Hope you've written that wee gem down in the family album Maria. Certainly makes you think carefully a about what you say though, doesn't it. And also makes you realise that our dear wee treasures pick up on soooooo much of what we say (and I believe they actually understand much more than we give them credit for). Thanks for putting a smile on my face:) Ciao
From the mouths of the babes indeed. lol This is just so funny. I bet your sister wasn't impressed. I hope everything is all sorted now. 🙂
LOL!! That is to funny! It's interesting what kids hear, how they interpret it, and even more so how they repeat it!
Ha!! Oh man, this is too funny. I mean, funny NOW…but wasn't funny then, I'm sure! They just take in everything we say, don't they?! Sometimes it doesn't come back out quite right, either…
lol – too funny.
btw – any news on the Amber Alert girl?
I'd love to read the transcript of how you talked your way out of that one!
I told my husband once that his mother needs to think about things a moment before she asks such stupid questions. The next time we saw her, "Grandma, you need to think before you say things."
Thankfully she didn't pick up on it, but sheesh, we have to watch what we say!
Out of the mouths for sure. The do say the darndest things. Sorry about that situation but it is a pretty funny story! Lol. I am sure it wasn't at the time though!
That is so funny. Belle is only a year and not talking yet but I am so afraid what she is going to pick up some times. A lot of things that the Hubs and I can freely talk about I know we will have to be careful with in the very near future.
He sure did! You have no idea how offended my sister was. Although there is no love lost between my husband and I and her boyfriend, I did feel badly that she thought we had really said those things about him.
Be afraid, be very afraid…Lol Take it from me, you have to watch every single word that you say in front of your little ones. They will take a couple of words and run with it.
Tell me about it! It was certainly an incentive to begin speaking in code with my husband.
It definitely was not funny at the time! I had to seriously talk my way out of this one. My sister knew we didn't get along with her b/f so she really thought we had said that about him.
Well, I basically had to explain to her what had really happened. This did not shed the best light on the whole situation because I had to divulge to her that we had been discussing why we don't our sons around him. I also had to explain to her that I did not think he was an insect nor did I think that her house was not clean or infested with roaches. It definitely was a hairy situation, to say the least. It looks like your little one is quick with putting a unique spin on conversations. Watch what you say!
Yes, Daria. She was found and is back with her mother. I don't have any details yet on where she was or what happened to her. As soon as I find out, I will post an update.
Sherri, I was so mortified when I found out that he told her this. It took me a few to absorb what had happened and come up with a game plan to fix the situation.
Jackie, it is the part of how they repeat it that you have to worry about. Their perception is totally different than ours is.
Everything is sorted out now but it took awhile for my sister to get over it. I did feel bad about it because I don't like to see her hurt.
Maree, you are absolutely right, they do understand much more than we think they do. I suppose my son had already picked up on the negative vibes that we had about my sister's b/f at the time. We have all learned how to get along. I'm glad I could make you smile…
Thank you so much. Boy, did it throw me for a loop. I am much more careful now about how I communicate about such things with hubby when the kiddies are around. I really appreciate the feedback…
I'm sure your sister was furious, but I had to laugh at your son's word choice.
She was pretty mad! It was a feat to talk my way out of this one because my sister already knew that there was bad blood between us and her boyfriend. She assumed we had really said these things and I had to persuade her to think otherwise.