Teaching Kids To Avoid Foot-In-Mouth Disease

As parents, we spend a lot of time day in and day out trying to teach our children how to be good little citizens of the world. We want them to learn to be nice people, to know that we can’t always impulsively say what’s on our minds because it could be inappropriate, or it might hurt someone else’s feelings. Or if we want to appeal to everyone’s instinct for self-preservation, we might point out that thoughtlessly saying something is also very likely to be embarrassing for the big-mouthed speaker, at the very least.

To spare my children the discomfort I have felt many times in my life having opened my mouth and inserted a foot or two, I’m doing my best to ingrain a five-second time delay into my kids. It’s most definitely something I wish I had hardwired into my own brain.

I’m a hothead. I get annoyed by things that I wish I could just let roll off my back. I usually succeed in biting my tongue and not broadcasting my obnoxious annoyance to the world, though my husband who endures my daily airing of grievances might disagree. But the other day, I blew it. I said exactly what was on my mind and as the words carelessly tumbled out of my mouth at the speed of light, I instantly regretted it. Of course, there was no turning back at that point. My inner censor had failed me and miserably so.

I won’t bore you with the details other than to say that this mini-rant was ushered forth during a crowded holiday gathering with people I will most certainly be seeing again in the near future. At least my nearly four-year-old daughter, who is practically a walking DVR, wasn’t with me so she won’t be able to remind me of this most recent moment of my stupidity. I suppose the one good thing about doing and saying something regrettable is that I’m reminded of the importance of reinforcing thoughtfulness in my kids because after 36 years, I still sometimes need a refresher course in good behavior myself.