What Do You Think?
So, the New York Daily News is reporting that Britney Spears was getting some free stuff in a swag suit and had her two kids with her. The NY Daily News says her kids are 2 and 3 respectively. I believe them but doesn't it seem like they have been 2 and 3 forever? At this rate Jessica Alba's kid is going to catch up to them and pass them.
Anyway, while Britney was looking for free stuff because you know she can't afford to buy anything, the kids kept saying, "Oh s**t." Apparently they said it repeatedly. Now, I am not particularly offended that the kids heard it. I am fairly sure that Britney or Kevin's vocabulary consists primarily of four letter words and so it is natural they heard it and then are repeating it. Fine. But according to the story, Britney didn't even seem to notice and was more concerned with getting as much free stuff as possible. That is the part that bothers me. I understand kids are going to hear and repeat. But at some point I would think a parent would pick up on the fact that her kids are swearing in public. It isn't exactly proper for adults to be running around saying "oh s**t," all the time so don't know why kids get a pass because they are 2 and 3. If it happened to me I think I would be embarrassed and try and get my kids to stop swearing in front of everyone. Now that is just me. I'm wondering what you would do if you were in that situation.
Have my Caribbean nanny beat their @$$
ReplyDeleteI'd probably say "stop saying 'shit' you little fuckers!"
ReplyDeletedon't have kids, so have never been in that situation...but i'd die if my children were vulgar in any form. hmm...it IS the daily news, and aren't exactly the most credible outfit...so it could be they're just trying to paint her as the bad mom who's more interested in freebies than her kids. i think she loves her kids. she's come a long way w/ the conservatorship...i don't think she's that unfeeling.
ReplyDeleteROFL @ Kristen S.
ReplyDeleteI hate cursing, period. I think it is an indication of one's intelligence and perception of self-worth when they can't seem to find an adjective, verb or noun that doesn't sound ridiculously common. That said, I'm given to the occasional expletive, but it is much more powerful when I do it than when the cursers around me do.
ReplyDeleteAs for children, they just shouldn't, and parents who allow it should be completely ashamed of themselves. If you think people aren't going to make assumptions about their upbringing and socioeconomic situation because of it, you're naive.
I agree those kids seem to have stayed the same age forever, but nerd that I am, I checked. Sean Preston born 9/14/05. That other one born 9/12/06.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I cuss like sailors, but just yesterday I kicked two of my 12-year-old son's friends out of the house for cursing and calling each other names. Well, that and fighting.
Most advice I've ever heard is that when your kid starts saying "shit" you should ignore it. They'll stop eventually, but if you make a big deal out of it, they'll continue doing it. I have a lot of well-behaved, well-trained kids in my life and several of them went through the "oh shit" or "oh fuck" period. It is what it is. I don't think *that* is what makes her a bad parent.
ReplyDeleteIs anyone really shocked? Britney has the mentality of a 5-year-old herself.
ReplyDeleteThere was an article months ago about one of the kids swearing.
ReplyDeleteYes by now it means absolutely nothing to Britney.
This vocabulary is obviously standard in the Spears/Federline households.
I'm going to go out on a limb and give Brit some credit. Possibly she read (stretching here) that ignoring them will make the undesired behavior end, rather than drawing attention to it.
ReplyDeleteI think I feel sorry for those kids a little bit.
ReplyDeleteBetsy, what ghetto do you live in that you know lots of three-year-olds running around saying 'fuck'?
ReplyDeleteKids will pick up language (even the bad kind)as a toddler and use it. If you make a huge deal out of it they will too. She should have told them it wasn't nice and not to use it. But then Brit has larger issues then that to deal with.
ReplyDeleteGhigu, have you ever known a kid that didn't latch on to some kind of swearword at age 2 or 3 and run around for a while repeating it because it got them so much great attention? :) I think it's just part of their social learning process.
ReplyDeleteI have a hard time believing that Britney would have her kids with her in a gift suite without at least one nanny for each boy - if they were running around swearing she probably ignored it and assumed someone else would take care of it.
ReplyDeleteLOL @ Montana's first comment.
ReplyDeleteBig Hugs to Kat for expressing exactly how I feel about this situation as well :-)
*Hugs Lisa back*
ReplyDeleteI can appreciate that some people think ignoring it is the way to go, but I'm a parent, and my job is to DISCIPLINE my child so that they don't grow into useless and stupid habits. It's not an annoyance to enforce the rules, it's a JOB. My little one called Gordon Ramsay a 'dumbass' last week when she was offended by how rude he is. I was extremely blunt about how that would not be tolerated in our home, and as she's four, she understood and hasn't said it since.
Of course, when I was alone, I laughed until tears came out, but by then, I'd done my job so it was okay.
Parenting first, humour later.
Yelling, hitting, threatening are all bad reactions. And yes, to a certain extent, you have to ignore it...but in your own space. You MUST withdraw the children from the public. That's the hard part. If you're at the grocery store you have to abandon your groceries and take them to the car and go home. If you're at a gifting suite you have to turn around and go home. That's what you do when they're very little. Britney was more interested in getting her swag and having the nannies take care of the discipline later.
ReplyDeleteI would not tolerate that kind of behavior from my kids at any age, nor would I tolerate it from anyone that was around them....Then again, some people have different tolerance levels /shrugs
ReplyDeleteWhen our now 3 year old was 2.5, she suddenly started saying "fuck" because one of the kids at daycare whom she played with said it a lot at daycare under their breath (as we learned later). She didn't know it was a bad word, but she liked saying it, and would run around the house spontaneously saying "fucky...fucky...fucky" really fast. Have to admit, it does really roll off the tongue easily. Hubby and I were mortified when we first heard this and wrestled with how to go about it. (Because the above posters are right, it reflects back to the parents, even if they are not the ones who introduced it, especially in public with strangers.) There is the school of thought of not drawing their attention to it, because then they will only do it more knowing its verboten. But we did try to compromise by letting her know that was a bad word and then we tried to distract her by giving (and using around her) words that were fun to say and sounded bad. "Bamboo" was a real winner! I also spoke with the director at her daycare to alert them to the situation and to help monitor our daughters language so we could nip it in the bud on that end (tag-team tactic) which helped as well. Fortuately, the episode only lasted a very short time and soon she was old enough to understand better what are bad words and what are not.
ReplyDeleteBut I think in Britney's case, the kids are most likely hearing it on a regular basis between mom and dad and their respective hanger-on's. You can try to ignore it, but if that is the example being set, no one should be surprised at the outcome.
My 16-month-old granddaughter has been walking about her house saying "oh shit". My daughter ignores it and strongly encourages us to not react but there is definitely something amusing about an adorable little person wandering about muttering "oh shit, oh shit, oh shit"..we're banned from my daughter's house until we can stop laughing...
ReplyDeleteI'm starting to think she might be kind of trashy.
ReplyDeleteIt is my opinion that this happens to people who have kids at younger ages. I am 26 and lots of people I know or have witnessed in their early 20's or younger have really deplorable language, as befitting the standard of young adults today. They talk like that despite having kids around and also listen to music that has swearing in it like rap/hip hop/alternative rock around the kids too. I think as one gets older you just have more decorum or else learn when to swear and when not to, whatever it is i just have to say you dont see this happening with parents who have kids later in life as much.
ReplyDeleteI can respect your point of view, Jasmine, and think you've raised some excellent points. However, my husband and I are both later in life parents, educated, and I'm here to tell you it can happen to anyone's children. Especially when they are at preschool or daycare, you aren't there to monitor what comes out of the other children's mouths because of what they are exposed to at home.
ReplyDeleteWe've recently revised the music playlists that are generated by our computer and played in the house so that music that has bad and questionable lyrics doesn't accidently get selected since our daughter is a little sponge and parrot to what she hears nowadays.
We ignored it for the most part.
ReplyDeleteI'm just happy to hear that Brit's can talk.
OK, I have to admit, I have a potty mouth.
ReplyDelete@Kat- My mother was probably one of the most brilliant minds I know of; she was a very gifted child psychologist, and she too had quite the potty mouth. I don't think it has anything to do with "intelligence," my dear, just how and where you're raised.
That being said, I have an amusing story about my then 2-year-old (she is now nearly 5.) At the time, I had 2 older children I had to get ready for school and things can get quite frustrating rather quickly. I had never noticed my use of the F-word under my breath until I caught the 2-year-old looking around the house muttering under her breath, "Where are the fucky keys?!"
Having raised 5 children and helped raise several nieces and nephews, I must say that it is rather common for kids to catch on quickly to things they are not supposed to say. The minute you show your surprise at their vocabulary, or reprimand them for it, those words become a child's best friends...
The story is a crock, because every other gossip rag is saying that NO ONE was allowed in the swag tent while Britney was there, and that all they did was play.
Now, if I were in that situation, I'd definitely do what Kristen S said, lol....
I'd die of embarrassment!! I'd also apologize profusely and when we got home I would spank my child. yes, spank. My son did ONE bad thing when he was 2/3 and I spanked him. He learned from that point on, If i said "stop or I'm going to spank you" I meant it!
ReplyDeleteIt only takes a few times when they are young and they get who is in control.
Unfortunately, there are more kids like Britney's who show utter disrespect towards everyone than there are kids with manners.
I was told that those were my exact first words when I learned to talk and that was almost 50 years ago.
ReplyDeleteGet over it, people; this isn't about Britney!
The gossip hounds are having a slow day.
Back many years ago, my then 2 year old (she is 11 now) and her 4 year old sister were playing. I heard them talking to one another and all of a sudden the 2 year old says, "I am SO pissed off at you!" I nearly spit my soda out of my nose, I was so surprised and amused. It was pretty funny to hear such a cute little thing saying that.
ReplyDeleteMy kids never went through a cursing stage (other than that one time), so I've been lucky. I'm waiting to see how it goes now that my oldest is a teenager because I won't allow bad language in my house from a child.
I'm not sure that I really believe this story. Britney really does seem to care about her kids. And, if it is true, so what? Kids will be kids and as long as they are well taken care of...does it really matter? AND, who decided that shit and fuck were 'bad' words anyway? I've always wondered that.
I cuss like a sailor and I would like to think that I am not sub-standard intelligence OR class. However, I don't want my boys saying "bad words" because there is a time and place and toddlers don't understand that. That said, my husband did not want me to say "what" around the kids, as in:
ReplyDeletehim: Hey, Katie?
me: What (even when said in a pleasant and even lilting tone)
So of course, I obliged. Then we were riding the light rail and about 5 high schoolers were having a conversation that sounded like this "fuck fuck fuck shit ho-bag douche."
I laughed silently as my two year old was taking it all in. Can't protect their virgin ears forever.
My friend's son (age 6) is the youngest of three boys. I was watching him recently, and he decided to try out some of his new words on me.
ReplyDeleteSo he looked at his toy soldiers and said "come here, you bastards!" Then he looked at me real quick to catch my response.
I'm sorry to say I laughed, thereby encouraging him. But hey, that's the fun of watching kids for awhile then giving 'em back (a little worse for wear).
Dude, she's country. You can take the girl out of the trailer park, but just b/c the Spears family is Hollywood now doesn't make them classy.
ReplyDeleteFrankly who cares what the kids are saying. They're not your kids
I still think she's a better mother than Dina Lohan. Course, that isn't saying much.
ReplyDeleteForgot to add, they probably got it from Kevin and his gang of wanna-be gangstas. Clearly at that age they have no idea what they are saying.
ReplyDeleteMy eldest daughter had a hard time saying certain letters and phrases when she was a toddler. One of those just happened to be words that began with cl. There is nothing like having your sweet child shout out in a department store "Mommy---big cock". While everyone was looking at me, a young single mom, horrified that my child had said that, they completely missed that she was pointing to an actual clock that was very prominantly displayed on a store counter. We went out of our way to avoid the jewelry counter after that until she learned to say the word properly. After that a few oh shits are nothing.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter (now 7) didn't go through a bad word phase only because she stayed with her grandparents while I worked and she wasn't around other kids every day. By the time she was seeing other kids every day, at 4 or so, she knew what bad words are. The Daddy has a terrible habit of using "fuck" conversationally in front of her, and she's never picked up on it. Then again, by nature she's one of those kids who don't like to get in trouble. She's a rule-minder, almost to an extent that I wish she'd act out a little more because I don't want her to grow up stressed out and self-conscious.
ReplyDeleteAnyway. Once when she was 2, we were getting ready to go somewhere and I couldn't find my keys. I said "Oh shit!" and she immediately said "what did you forget, Mommy?"
In my family, when I was really little, we had "car words." There were certain words that only mommies and daddies should use and mostly only in the car, and NEVER in front of the grandparents. It worked remarkably well.
ReplyDeleteMy son's first word was "Shit." And he said it the exact same way I do when I'm exasperated. He went through a long stage of telling me not to swear, even if I commented about something on tv and said "that's stupid". He got heavy into Family Guy and laughed about the phrase "son of a bitch". As soon as my husband told him he HATES that phrase, he described everyone as a son of a bitch. Even cried once while saying it, like he couldn't help himself.
ReplyDeleteNow he's graduated on to other words. He knows it makes us angry, but I think that's why he does it. He only does it at home. Everywhere else, he is known as The Most Polite Boy In The World. I'm not kidding.
If he did it in public, I would definitely tell him to knock it off and privileges would be taken away.
there something called "extinguishing the behavior" that is used with very young children and those with significant delays. it's kind of maddening, because you CANNOT respond to what you want the child to stop doing AT ALL.
ReplyDeletewe have 3 girls. the only child this worked with was the one that was always easy to correct anyway, lol. but some people report great success.
the idea is that the behaviors are done to get attention/reaction, so you deny the reward. obviously this can't be used when the behavior is potentially dangerous.
From what I understand, she truly does love her kids very much and works very hard to be a good mother to them. This is also gossip. She probably was getting free stuff like everyone else and one of the kids said it. She looked away and giggled and life went on.
ReplyDeleteThese comments are the funniest fucking thing I've read in weeks! ;)
ReplyDelete