On the way home from school, Cameron (7) told me the kids in his class were saying a bad word. Apparently it was in a song they were singing. He told me they just kept saying it, even though he told them they shouldn’t say it. They just wouldn’t listen to him.

My first thought? Swear words at school. I knew this would happen at some point. I’m really not too surprised. He’s certainly heard enough 4 letter words at home to properly fill his vocabulary. I’m sure whatever he heard at school can’t be any worse.

My second thought? My little tattle tale. Even at school. He is such a rule follower! Almost to a fault. I really shouldn’t complain, but at some point it’s going to get him into trouble. We are working on it. Never thought someday I’d have to teach my kid that it’s OK to break the rules sometimes. That’s for another post though.

So, back to this song they were singing. Cameron didn’t know the name. I asked him to sing it. Tell me the words in the song. He got all embarrassed.

He said: But there’s a bad word in it. I don’t want to get in trouble. Can I say it just this time without getting in trouble?

Of course I said yes…then braced myself for what it might be. Anticipating we were going to have to have some sort of additional conversation.

He started singing the words. I’m sure you’ve heard it. “Shut Up and Dance” by Walk the Moon.

As he was singing, my mind was running through it. Trying to figure out where this so called bad word fit in.

He stopped singing and said: Can you believe they actually said “shut up”? They just kept singing it.

While holding back my laugh, I faked a surprised/shocked face for him. I was actually a little surprised he thought it was such a bad word. It’s not one that he’s gotten in trouble for before. Actually, I’m pretty sure the few times it’s been said around here the response we gave was more that they shouldn’t say that to each other. It wasn’t a nice thing to say to someone. Not that it’s a bad word necessarily.

Regardless, I felt a little better. Somehow in spite of my potty mouth at home (and apparently those darn kids at school), he was still pretty innocent.

I told him that while it wasn’t a nice word, it wasn’t necessarily a bad word. Also, that particular word was OK as long as it was in a song like that. Not being said to someone else.

My “awesome mom moment” came the next time the song came on. When he asked if it was OK for him to say the word…only when he was singing the song of course. He didn’t expect me to say yes. I think he blushed every time he sang it. Win for me.