F-bombs, or, what comes out of the mouths of babes

When Edie was just beginning to speak a lot, around eighteen months, her stroller fell over and she uttered a very cute, "Damn it"!  A few months later something happened and she said "Jesus"!  Every little nuance of your speech is parroted by the little darlings.  

When I was growing up we had a big doggy bank and every time someone in the house cursed, they had to put a quarter in the bank.  Well, children go through a stage when they delight in finding everything wrong that others do and pointing it our.  My parents were eventually emptying out their pockets in an effort to keep up with the rules they made about cursing and they were paying for it-big time. 

 Their biggest mistake was that the "curse jar" was also the vacation fund.  We ended up taking an amazing family vacation to Hawaii.  

After that, we were nearing the teenage years and managed to get a rise out of our parents as often as possible and once again, they were emptying out their pockets.  The next time we emptied out the doggy bank and came up with a big fund,  my parents took a trip to Europe with the money-without us.  So much for Pavlovian doggy banks.