Are you kidding me?

I went to the dollar store today. I have a love/hate relationship with stores like this.

I LOVE the price. I love that when I take my kids there I can "splurge" and let them get something without feeling like I've wasted a large sum of money. The kids feel like they've won the lottery and I can feel better when I see the item tossed aside knowing I spent a mere dollar on it.

I HATE how dirty some of them are. I feel like I need hand sanitizer after pushing a cart from there. :0( I HATE knowing that even though it's called the "dollar" store....I spend far more than ONE dollar. It's inevitable...I can't resist the "deal".

Today, though....my frustration was magnified exponentially when, in line at the check out counter, the little 4 year old boy in front of us flipped off my daughter. My innocent daughter who has NO idea what a middle finger being waved at her means held up her hand in an "OK" symbol. This is how she tells everyone she is three. :0) To her, the only reason a kid would hold up fingers would be to let others know their age.

Well, the kid kept flipping her off, and she kept holding up her three fingers....him first, then her, then him, you get the idea. Apparently the little boy was not pleased that my daughter was not understanding the meaning behind his "naughty" finger and so instead he decided to TELL her.

Yes, you heard me.

He said "F*%# you" to my daughter. I looked at his father who surely had heard him...right? Nothing.

How does a FOUR YEAR OLD not only KNOW that word...but also know HOW to use it? I could go on making all sorts of assumptions about his parents, siblings, or home life...but that's all they would be. I have no idea what this kid experiences on a day-to-day basis.

Sigh...anyway, the mom pays, and dad and son and mom all start walking away. I sigh a breath of relief, though apparently I did this a tad too early. Since he still got no reaction out my daughter {who has never heard that word before} he decided to tell her again.

What did my daughter do? She smiled and waved goodbye to her new "friend". She still had no idea what he was saying to her, but she was sure that they had somehow "bonded" over hand gestures.

I should have said something. The problem is...I don't think the parents would have cared. So what was the point? Thankfully my daughter was left unaware of what had really happened, but I was ANGRY!

I'm trying not to make rash judgments about these people. I'm sure they're very nice, right? But how in the crap does their son know about fingers and "F words" at four years old? I realize that kids hear their parents swear sometimes. I am not immune to this. I slip...I'm human. But my kids are NOT allowed to use profanities. Sure, they'll get older and do whatever they want anyway....but right now....when they are still young and moldable...bad words are BAD. In our house bad words are things like stupid, butt, ugly, and stuff like that. Words that are part of most people's vocabulary but that can be gross or hurtful.

Sorry for my rambling here....but seriously...am I the only one shocked by occurences like this? All of these little kids with potty mouths? It's sad.