'This is the most fantastic [...] birthday ever!': Mom makes promise to 3-year-old daughter that she instantly regrets when she turns 15

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JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Aug 4, 2024 11:00 AM EDT

When we're kids, sometimes you'll say anything to get your kid to shut up. You'll tell lies, you'll invent stories, and you'll make promises you know you can't keep. "They'll forget about it," you assume. "There's no way they'll ever remember that I told them they could get a pet pigeon once they turned 16." And most of the time, you'd be right. Memory is such an elusive thing, and most things slip through the cracks. 

My best friend in 7th grade wanted the Skrillex haircut (if you remember you remember) so badly, but her mom told her she had to wait until high school to do it. Sure enough, by the time we were high school teens, Skrillex wasn't cool anymore and she kept her regular mom. Points to her mom on that one. But one such mother wasn't so lucky, and her kid made good on the promise. Read on for the hilarious story.

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  • 01
    B BEER BIAR * T
    via Thanh Tran
  • 02
    TIFU By Making a Promise to a 3 Year Old
    via u/Yaymeimashi
  • 03
    So, many years ago, my daughter was learning to talk, and thanks to my foul mouth, she learned proper use of curse words fairly quickly. We then spent a lengthy amount of time teaching her what words were inappropriate, and what to substitute them
    via u/Yaymeimashi
  • 04
    with. She would quickly get exasperated and explain, in her way, that the substitute words didn't have the same oomph as a curse word. And of course, all the grandparents thought it was hilarious and adorable and encouraged the use of this foul language.
    via u/Yaymeimashi
  • 05
    At some point during all this teaching, I supposedly promised my 3 year old daughter that I'd let her cuss when she turned 15. I don't truly remember promising, but I do remember the conversations involved around the time, and I'm sure it was my exasperation that made me promise this. So on her 15th
    via u/Yaymeimashi
  • 06
    birthday, after blowing out her candles, she immediately jumped for joy, clapping her hands, and exclaimed "This is the most fantastic f*king birthday ever!" Of course I was in shock, her father immediately wtf'd her, and she launched into what had to have been a planned speech about this promise I made, and how she's been holding onto my words for over a decade, how excited she is to finally be 15, and how she can absolutely curse now because Mom PROMISED.
    via u/Yaymeimashi
  • 07
    In the end, we talked to her and explained how that was a promise made in frustration and exasperation, and while it is unfair to hold me to it, we could compromise. The compromise was she only uses the foul language at home, ABSOLUTELY NEVER at school, and she avoids using it around extended family and her younger brothers (who, consequently, are also looking forward to their 15th birthdays, expecting the same deal).
    via u/Yaymeimashi
  • 08
    I also know I can't stop her from using foul language around her friends, but I told her to limit it to their discord/texting, and again, never at school, never around other kids parents. We've taught her to use her best judgment on when the word is acceptable, and we've all toned down our cursing/foul language. Shes generally a really good kid, so if cursing is the worst thing she does as a teenager, I can deal with it.
    via u/Yaymeimashi
  • 09
    Glittering_Raise_710. 12 hr. ago That girl was born and ready to swear
    via u/Glittering_Raise_710
  • 10
    Writerhowell 7 hr. ago • Samuel L Jackson has been narrating her childhood inside her head.
    via u/Writerhowell
  • 11
    Schwinslow 12 hr. ago My dad started telling me a joke once when I was 6 and then stopped himself because it wasn't appropriate. Said he'd tell me on my 18th birthday. I remembered.
    via u/Schwinslow
  • 12
    Yaymeimashi OP. 12 hr. ago Kids remember the weirdest things, honestly. I remember my 4th birthday getting an RC car that my bio dad immediately took to play with (my mom has since said she knew he didn't buy it for me, but for himself, lol) and he got it run over in the street not 10 minutes later. I'm 37 and can still see it happening in my mind. when I think about it lol.
    via u/Yaymeimashi
  • 13
    Bent_Brewer · 12 hr. ago "There are 400,000 words in the English language, and there are seven of them you can't say on television. What a ratio that is! Three hundred ninety nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety three... To seven. They must be really bad!" -- George Carlin
    via u/Bent_Brewer
  • 14
    mellbell63 11 hr. ago • "There are 400,000 words in the English language, and that's not enough to describe how much I want to hit you with this chair!" Alexander Hamilton to Thomas Jefferson
    via u/mellbell63
  • 15
    NotTaintedCaribou 11 hr. ago I let my girls swear. They're 8 and 4. As me and my wife view it, we swear. Swearing is normal. So we're taking the approach of teaching appropriate use. There are two rules. 1. Don't swear at people. 2. Don't swear at school.
    via u/NotTaintedCaribou
  • 16
    We've only ever had one issue, and it was more a failure to teach in our end. Daughter gave a kid the middle finger at school. Had to explain what it meant, and that it violated both rules.
    via u/NotTaintedCaribou
  • 17
    On the upside, hearing a confused 4 year old in the background of a phone call muttering "...but it's not a unicorn. It's a rhino... there's a rainbow... but it's a rhino." Is hilarious.
    via u/NotTaintedCaribou
  • 18
    NotaWitch-YourWife 12 hr. ago Swear words are just words. I do agree however there are appropriate times to use them and it sounds like you have taught her well so she should use them appropriately.
    via u/NotaWitch-YourWife
  • 19
    PhoenixQueen_Azula 10 hr. ago If cursing is the worst you have to worry about with her at 15 she's earned it tbh Insane to me that she could possibly remember something like that from when she was 3
    via u/PhoenixQueen_Azula

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funny moms funny stories things kids say kids swear words swearing profanity moms parenting cussing kids these days tifu cute kids reddit thread Reddit funny Parenting Fail parents Parenting FAILS
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