Tuesday, June 1, 2010

I am The Driver of the Badwordmobile.

I do not drive "the bookmobile" or "the batmobile" or "the Popemobile." But I am the some what embarrassed driver of a vehicle which can only be conservatively called "the badwordmobile." My embarrassment really only lasted about a half second, so I must share the results of my experiment. I may also be required to categorize this post under "Bad Mommy Part III."

I would totally be excommunicated from the Catholic church, were I a member, for my evil parental transgressions over the weekend. How now brown cow, you say? Well it started with a drive home after a long day of exploring over the weekend.

Let's just say I had three boys (my son and two of his cousins) stuck in my truck on the way home after a long, long, long day. We had a drive of a little over an hour to endure getting back to our housing compound.

By some law of the universe, the three boys ages 8, 7, and 5, could find nothing more entertaining then to say naughty words to each other under their stinky little breath. I still can not comprehend their excessive fascination, bordering on a compulsive disorder, with BAD WORDS. But it is what it is.

As I was driving I kept hearing whispers from the back seat, "Ass. . . ass head. . . butt wipe. . .butt funk . . . " and so on.

I briefly pondered pulling over and beating the crap out of the boys. Then I decided there'd be too many witnesses along Highway 101. Time for other strategies.

And reverse psychology, having some kind of effect on kids, was to find it's role in the parents guide to the universe once again.

"You know boys, I CAN hear you," I told them when the next round of filth emptied like a quietly sneaking black fog from their mouths.

Silence. Then uncontrollable giggling.

I continued,"We don't talk like that. You KNOW that already though don't you boys."

A staggered chorus of "We know... OK." was heard from the backseat. Then another fit of giggles erupted.

"Well, maybe today we can do something different," I speculated out loud.

I went on, "What if you write all the bad words you want on paper instead of saying them? I don't want to hear them, but you can write all the naughty words you want. I repeat, the rules are you must NOT say them. AND you can't tell anyone about this. We're gonna call it the badwordmobile. OK? This will be our secret. Right."

Secrets and bad words are things which kids like, so I was betting the clandestine nature of this operation and being told to use the words they aren't supposed to would do the trick. Maybe this would satisfy their need to explore vocabulary while simultaneously keeping them from verbalizing those things that they should not. Maybe this was pure parenting genius. Maybe NOT.

Pandemonium with whoops and hollers broke out intermixed with, "Yeah!! Yeah! Okay! and Really? The three boys were laughing and sputtering with excitement like Bevis and Butthead at their worst. They were chortling and chirping like a pack of dirty starlings.

After a scramble for scratch paper and pens, the boys were totally absorbed with their new directive and silence in the truck ensued. Those three boys set to work to write their worst.

I could see my son Wyatt carefully writing, "Luke is an ass." Then he stopped to ask, "How do you spell 'balls'?"

Bwahhaahaaaa. Laughter of the most uncontrollable kind broke loose for five minutes.

Then Trevor piped in hissing with glee, "I'm gonna write 'Butt lick'."

"Hey!! I said you CAN'T say the words boys!!! What about our rules?" I hollered at them.

Silence.

Giggles.

Silence.

The furious writing by unsteady hands using pink felt tip markers on the back side of scratch paper was palpable. Concentration of this magnitude in boys is not often observed.

A rustle, a squeak, a sigh . . .

Then paper airplanes laden with profanity took flight across the back seat of my truck. As each recipient claimed his specially addressed airplane, raucous laughter echoed through the vehicle. Each boy read the naughty note written just for him. I think it was truly unmitigated joy.

What did I do?

So this pattern went on for the half of the trip home. Writing bad words, folding paper airplanes, reading, cackling laughter. But the bad word verbal banter was gone.

As we approached the exit to our town I said, "Okay boys. That's it. The badword mobile is over. Now what are the rules?"

"Don't tell anyone about the badword mobile," one of the boys volunteered.

"We can only write down the words on paper and not say them," another piped up.

I nodded my head and said, "Good! Excellent! Now there is just one more thing. Every scrap of paper must be thrown in the trash as soon as we get home."

And when we got home a few minutes later the boys cleaned out the truck of the foul debris.

Now let's see how long the foul words are absent from their tongues. . .

14 comments:

Suzi said...

I gotta give it to them, they haven't told about the secret. I am still "in the dark" about this badwordmobile.

Genius!

Sara said...

First off, I cringed when you said an hour trip with three boys. I have been known to drop boys off by the side of the road and make them walk home because of their foul mouth. :O

Secondly, it was genius. Now when they flip off somebody are you going to make them write a hundred times "I will not flip off people."? The power of the pen, I say. :D

Doris Sturm said...

What a cute story - there's a lesson in there because you got them to stop saying the words and writing them, encouraging them to spell and then symbolically trash the trash!!!! Brilliant! You need to incorporate this in your Bingo book somehow - ok, maybe not!

The Mind of a Mom said...

That is too funny, All I can say is thank goodness they are not in the car with me because I get behind the wheel and I am a totally different person. Trust me their "butt-funk" would have been much more pronounced! LoL

brokenteepee said...

You take the bad out of the bad word and suddenly it's not so much fun anymore.

Well, except the airplane flying.....

You are brilliant!

Holly, the Old Western Gal said...

Julia honey, you ain't right.

You just ain't right!

In the HAID!

lol

Karen said...

OMG! This is so funny. How could you keep from laughing?

Liz Mays said...

This completely cracked me up, and your brilliance shines forth like a beacon!

Carolyne said...

Oh, my *Goodness*.......I am still teary with laughter after reading this post!
This is truly a deja vu moment for me and you handled it perfectly! (It's very important not to care about what Grandma or church thinks).
I raised three very *Fun* loving boys and from my experience, these great stories will not be the last for you. And I'm also sure your boys will grow up to have the best memories of their wonderful secret Mobile with their favourite Mom.
{{hugs}}~Carolyne

Unknown said...

ROFLMAO...mine would love this, but be asking how to spell them all...and knowing him he'd go to school and write them there...cause he's a shit like that.

Lesley Speller said...

You, my dear, are brilliant! Brilliant I say. hehe I intend to make use of this in the future.

The first rule of Badword Mobile is you don't talk about Badword Mobile.

Rick (Ratty) said...

Since I was a small boy for at least a few years, I would guess the bad words only stopped for not more than half an hour. If a boy goes too long without saying at least one, he might just burst. The pain is just too great.

Anonymous said...

Simply brilliant, lady. Well done.

DayPhoto said...

Wonderful! The idea is just perfect!

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/

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