Once upon a time, my husband was fresh out of college and taught at a private Christian school. Although we’d been married over a year and had our first child, we weren’t much older than the 19 year old seniors, so tried hard to maintain a sense of maturity and dignity. We had high ambitions for impacting the academic and spiritual lives of our students.
One fine day, my husband was called into the principal’s office. Surprised, he sat down and watch the principal’s face contort and turn red as he delivered a message.
“I had a phone call from a parent regarding your behavior,” he began.
“Really?” My husband couldn’t begin to imagine what crime he’d committed.
“Apparently, you swore in the classroom,” explained the principal with twitching lips.
“I Swore? But, I don’t swear,” explained my husband. It wasn’t a standard adopted for the classroom, it was a personal standard he lived by. He wouldn’t have sworn even if he had smashed his thumb with the proverbial hammer.
“Well,” said the principal, “you used a word that’s highly offensive to a family and they called me to complain. They insisted I speak to you about your classroom behavior.”
Worried he would be given his walking papers, my husband asked, “What did I say?”
“You used the F word,” the principal spoke and refused to let my husband defend himself.
He continued, “You used the word….fff…fff…FART!” With that he gave up trying to hold back his emotions and laughed so hard his office chair squeaked on its wheels.
With relieved laughter, my husband promised to never use the F word in the classroom again.
I think we forgot to teach this valuable lesson to our children. I found this old worksheet from one of my daughters, who prefers to remain anonymous.
Yep, a chip off the ol’ block.
Reminds me of the time in summer school (between sixth and seventh grades) when I complained to my mother about my math teacher’s foul language. Of course, I wasn’t about to repeat “that” word. “Well, what letter does it start with?” she asked, growing impatient. “J!” I blurted out. My poor mother dissolved in a fit of giggles.
Cute. Thanks for sharing your story! It always adds to the drama of the moment. 🙂
If that was the worst swear word that Scott used, I’d guess I’d be a pretty happy parent. I know that Shawn hasn’t used it in his classroom but I think he used one swear word a little worse once when he got pretty mad about something, but now i can’t remember what it was. Thankfully there wasn’t any call to the Principal for it either.
There’s a great list of words that we just choose not to us. All the time my kids hear, “We just don’t say that word. It’s not a terrible word but we just don’t say it in our home.” I guess to be honest, “fart” would be on it, but definitely not on the swear word list. haha. That bodily issue is just ignored when it comes into the room to avoid anything awkward if guests are around. It is suggested to my littles that they “take it to the bathroom next time!” 😉 🙂
Hmmm…you have little girls. Something about little boys that makes it a little more challenging to make them “take it to the bathroom.” I grew up with three brothers and I think my nostril hair was burned out before I reached double digits!
I must admit….I giggled at that. My kids say “hypocrite” like it some mean swear word after hearing me say it. Funny!
Glad I could make you giggle. Ya’ know, we still use the word FART and I guess I still don’t understand why some people consider it a swear word.
That’s so cute!