My little Sophie bear – the child who rarely gets into trouble, who is a quiet, generally easygoing, well-behaved child, became frustrated at our babysitter’s house the other day.

“Oh shit,” she said. Our lovely babysitter thought she misheard at first. That is, until Sophie said it again, with gusto. Our babysitter took Sophie aside and asked her if she knew whether what she was saying was bad. Sophie, at three years old, doesn’t really know how to lie and responded that yes, indeed, she knew it was bad. Her babysitter asked that she not say it again.

But by then Sophie was on a roll. And she let it rip one more time for good measure. That landed her in a time out, of course.

Needless to say, the truth is out. My husband and I have potty mouths. We try to refrain from displaying this side of our personalities in front of our kids, but let’s face it, you can’t teach old dogs new tricks. And kids are super perceptive. Boy, was I embarrassed. Our babysitter took it in stride – it was the first (and will hopefully be the last) time she gave Sophie a time out.

The good news is that Sophie hasn’t seen fit to use the word since. We’ll see how long that lasts. In the meantime, I’m trying desperately to watch my mouth. And my husband would be wise to do the same.