MONKEYS! @*!!%$

Monkey

Okay, I'll admit it. I have sworn once or twice in my lifetime. Sometimes it is just hard not to.

But when our kids were growing up and the first one swore I was horrified! That would no longer happen!

It made me re think some friendships, and Andy and I went on a no swearing policy. And that worked for a while.
Eventually, we knew it was coming, the question came..."Mom" "why can't I swear?" "I mean sometimes you just get angry and well, you gotta express it somehow".

Strangely, that very week I had seen an interview with Will Smith, and another one with Mr. Rodgers. And both of them were talking about what made them not swear. They had very similar answers and it was striking, it really made me think!

They both stated that someone in their life had challenged them. Had told them they were too smart to use such words. That they could find better words to express their anger and work through a situation. Wish I had thought of that...

 What a good way to express to someone, that an angry verbal tirade does not have to have profanity in it. That a better way of expressing your anger, frustration, pain, what have you, is available. And it just takes using your brain.

You should have heard the moans the first time I explained this to my kids. My son said it best. "I hate that you think I am that smart"!
"Does that mean you get it?" I queried. "Yes"! they moaned back.

Now I am not saying they never swear. I know they do. But I like that they really regret it afterward and that they think about it and want to do better. And I know they don't do it in front of other peoples children.

I hear so many young people swearing these days, almost every other word out of their mouths is profanity. I am that annoying  grandma at Mc Donald's and other places who ask them to refrain when my grandchildren are there, or when children and families are around.
And yup! I say it! "You are too smart not to find a better way to express yourselves!"

My kids? Some of their solutions...Why sometimes it can be so funny. And it really can turn things around.

My Chandra makes me laugh every time!  I hear my daughter up in her bedroom... *Crash!* "MONKEYS!"
"Monkeys!" fly around her house a lot some days. She'll tell me, "What?" "It makes me laugh instead of getting angry"! I love it!

My son-in-law Erik does it very jauntily, Medieval style. And he and Sara have taught Mina very well she says "oh dear!"
 James, our son, when he is around me and his dad and others he restrains himself well, He can growl, and grunt with the best of them. Maybe, Ooo Ooo  he should say "GORILLAS!" LOL!

Anyway, We all need to challenge ourselves. All of us need to remember that we are intelligent beings who can use our brains and our voice to express our feelings in a civil manner. In a way that doesn't offend others. Once we can control ourselves we need to share with others.

A simple step back to a polite society? I sure hope so...

Monkeys! What? I just saw some in the zoo!