At bedtime, after a few hours of hilarity and insane fun*, Julia looked over at me with her shy questioning eyes and asked, “Daddy, what does ‘fart’ mean?” I laughed (who wouldn’t?) and said that it was a rude word for passing gas. She chuckled, relieved, and said that her best friend at school had used the word that day. Julia guessed the meaning, but wasn’t sure she was right, so she had to ask.
Vivi of course found this exchange hilarious, and accused me of farting a lot. Which may or may not be true.
Then I cautioned them not to use the word much, because most people will find it very rude, and kids who say it very badly behaved. This will have no effect on their use of the word in the future, I’m sure. But I figure we did something right if Julia made almost all the way to age seven before learning any rude words.
*Julia, eating a Hershey’s Krackel candy bar: “Rice in a candy bar? I don’t want rice in a candy bar. It tastes like dinner, not dessert.”