“Get in the f**king” Bat Cave” were the words I heard. Followed by a response from his mate that also included the F bomb.
No this wasn’t the new Batman movie, this was two four year old's playing in our local park this morning.
I looked over to another mum nearby to check if she’d heard it and whether or not she had the same reaction as I. My next instinct was to see whose children they were.
Do little boys normally swear at that age out of mum’s earshot?
I don’t think I even knew the F-word until I was up around 10 and even then, it was not something I heard in the playground at school.
Little T and I were quietly playing on the slide when the park was overrun by about twenty kids from a local kindergarten and several of their Mums.
The noise was deafening.
I shaked in my winter boots as I watched the boys launch at the play equipment “roaring” and yelling and jostling each other out of the way. Mostly it was the noise that struck me.
Reality hit. I am a mum to a little boy. Does that mean likely he will end up like “that”? Is this normal?
I laughed as two of them “roared” loudly at each other and Little T’s two year old eyes lit up and he roared back (albeit in a softer voice). But part of me did still wonder. Are all little boys that loud when in a pack like group?
I am all for letting kids be kids but after one mum came up and apologized for their group spoiling the serenity of the playground, I wondered what I was in for in years to come.
Not long after this I did my double take on hearing the Bat Cave expletive. I had to look twice to see if those words had really come from a boy so young.
The little boy’s mum came over to him afterwards and I found myself looking her up and down wondering whether she had any idea her little boy was shouting f-bombs to his buddies.
I stopped and thought about my own language. I do find it hard to remember to stop swearing at home. Today’s experience reinforced how important it is to set a good example early on.
Now I just need to get my head around the fact that relatively quiet little two year old's can turn in boisterous 4 year old's in the blink of an eye.
Fuck.
