Saturday, May 21, 2011

Take Your Potty Mouth Somewhere Else

So it happened last night at our neighborhood park. I had one of those “mother bear protecting her young” moments. I was on my way home from work after a rather intense day, when I noticed a voicemail from my husband, Todd. “I have your children, we are at the park, meet us there.” Okay, easy enough.

Two happy and smiling kids greeted me at the park. They were being pushed on the swings by a content and relaxed looking daddy. Tyler was yelling, “push me higher, daddy.” Molly was laughing. We were all thinking, “thank goodness it is Friday.” Once off the swings we headed to the slides. This is when I noticed four teenage boys playing volleyball in the sand pit. They seemed to be having a good time, blowing off some steam, probably counting down the days until summer vacation. While helping Molly down the slide I heard the “F” word coming from the volleyball court. I looked over and saw two of the boys starting to argue and a few punches were thrown. Another boy told them to “knock it off,” while the fourth started to walk toward a car.

They had Tyler’s attention now. He wanted to know why they were hitting each other. I explained to him that hitting wasn’t nice and not to pay attention to them. Looking over again, the two boys were rolling on the ground and were using the “F” word again. That is when mother bear sprung into action. I mean, this is a neighborhood park. I walked over to the boys, who were now on their feet, pushing and shoving each other toward a tree. I will admit to raising my voice, just so they could hear me, which I think took them by surprise. It was pretty much a one-sided conversation that went something like this ---

“Please stop it right now. This is a playground where a lot of little kids play. I don’t appreciate you fighting and using bad language. My kids are watching you.” I probably should have stopped there, but no I kept going. “Take your potty mouths somewhere else, now.”

They didn’t say a word (which is why I say it was a one-sided conversation). Instead, they gathered their things and walked to their car. I turned around and saw Todd’s mouth hanging open. Apparently, I don’t do things like this often. Then I looked at Tyler and said, “I gave them a time-out. That’s what happens if you fight.” Less then a minute later, Molly fell, bit her lip and started to bleed. Needless to say, we headed home too.

I am a MOMMY - hear me roar!

True confession of the day: I have never said “potty mouth” before and I don’t know where it came from. At least I didn’t tell them to “f… off.”

1 comment:

  1. I bet it won't be the last time you say "potty mouth". Funny what motherhood does to you. -Shannan

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