Your morning thought for today:
Just about the time you think you can make ends meet, somebody moves the ends.

It happens to everyone. Sooner or later the kids come home from school or play with a "bad word". Here's how Christine is handling the situation in today's Heartwarmer.

My 5-year-old came up to me the other day and said, "Mommy, do you know what bad words are?" My first thought was to respond with, "they are what society has deemed inappropriate for people to say." Yet, I wasn't sure if she would comprehend what I was trying to say. Having not answered yet, she added, "they are words that are bad and shouldn't be said."

It bothered me that my daughter already knew what bad words were. My husband and I have busted our butts to shelter these kids from things in this world like "bad words". When my oldest child was 5 (she's 7 now) she heard her first bad word from the 4-year-old who lived behind us. We don't swear in front of our children and we don't let other people do it as well. Nevertheless, no matter how much we shielded our children in their primary years, once they hit the school system, they entered a whole new environment.

Last week my oldest came home and said a boy in her class taught her one of the really bad words while the teacher was talking at the blackboard. My first thought was to call the teacher and demand to know why this was happening in her classroom. Then I realized that no matter how Mackenzie learned the word, it was bound to happen eventually. She never said the word but she spelled it so we just added it to the list of words she already knew and wasn't allowed to say.

It's amazing what kids learn at school and how young they are when they learn it. There are children in Kenzie's class who already write notes to their "lovers". It used to bother me if Kenzie was doing the same and I would try to subtly question her. She has liked the same boy since she was 5 (she's nothing if not loyal). Last month, she came home from school one day and gave me quite the encouraging shock. She said, "Mommy, I told Cory that I only wanted to be his friend." My mouth dropped because we have heard nothing but Cory this, Cory that. I asked why the sudden turn around and she replied, "Because I'm too young for this type of thing and there are more important things I should be thinking about now."

As I tried to keep the proud grin off my face, she added, "I'm not going to date or anything until I'm at least 17." Always competing, my youngest said, "Yeah? I'm not going to date until I'm 18!" Well, to my way of thinking, competition can be good at times!

The bottom line is that it doesn't matter what our children learn at school, it's what they're taught at home that will count. The Bible says, "Raise your children in the way they should go, and when they grow, they will not depart from it". My husband and I have tried to do just that through leading by example and teaching them the difference between right and wrong before they started in the school system. We have already shown them that what they say and think counts and they are very important to us. And in return, they have shown us that they have the maturity to deal with adversity. Although my children are still young, and we have a long road in front of us, I believe that if we continue in the way we have begun, our children will continue to respect life, us, and have the self-confidence they need to meet their challenges head on.

by: Christine Nielsen

Christine says:
"I'm a lifelong history student and I enjoy writing and spending time with my family. Eventually, I would like to publish historical biographies as well as get my screenplay on Mary, Queen of Scots, made into a movie."

This story may not be reproduced in any way, without the author's written permission.