Dummy!

This posting is not likely to win me any Parent of the Year awards ... then again, I was not a likely candidate for that anyway, so here goes ...

The other day, my husband showed me a video on YouTube.com called "Jeff Dunham -- Achmed the Dead Terrorist." Jeff Dunham is a ventriloquist, and although this sketch -- which features a skeleton dummy made up like a Terrorist -- has some bad language, it is also VERY funny. They also have some other sketches up there involving Jeff Dunham and some dummies named "Walter" and "Peanut."

OK, here's where the bad parent part comes in: I have let the kids watch some of the Jeff Dunham sketches. For that matter, I have also let them watch Shrek, which contains some humor that is less than G-rated. Most of this goes right over their heads, but they laugh anyway, because the dummies (or cartoon characters) are funny anyway. Nevertheless, every time a bad word comes on, I interject, "Bad word -- don't say this at school." "Bad word -- don't ever say this."

Tonight, as I was putting the kids to bed, Xavier recited one of the scenes from the Jeff Dunham video, that goes like this:

Walter: My wife is getting old.

Jeff Dunham (smiling): But a woman ages like a fine wine ...

Walter (disparaging look at Jeff): My wife is aging like milk.

As Xavier finished reciting this, he said, "Mommy, what does it mean that his wife ages like milk?"

"Well, Xavier, wine is supposed to improve as it gets older, and milk goes sour."

Xavier laughed, then said, "Don't say that at work, mommy!"