Things you should not do

It was a cool idea to start out.  My mother had made quilts out of t-shirts my brother and sister wore in high school and college.  I had some college t-shirts that I should have parted with, but had yet to do that.  So I asked Mom to make me a quilt out of those shirts.  I thought the shirts were clever, funny.  I did not think about their appropriateness for elementary school students.  The quilt arrived at Christmas, but really didn't get used until recently, it is so dang cold, that the pile of the other quilts dwindled as they got used and we pulled this one from the bottom.

Then, sitting on the sofa, my daughter reads and repeats what's on it.

She says, "Marching band is better than," she pauses.  Makes a I know that's a naughty word and I'm not going to say it face (you know, that excited look you get running across something forbidden.  You're all grinny and embarrassed). Then finishes reading, "because..."  Then her grinniness becomes more pronounced and she repeats it louder and with more finesse, making a quiet hand gestured emphasis to show that she was not going to read that one word, but with so much glee about its inappropriateness.  Her brother takes note.  They start to giggle.  I start to get embarrassed.  Then I admonish, "You will not talk about this with anyone outside the house, okay?"  She nods and giggles some more.  I do an eye roll and that sigh my sister knows so well.

Then a thought occurs to me.  So I ask her point blank, "Do you know what S-E-X means?"  She blushes and shakes her head.  And I say, "That's fine, we'll talk about it later."  Then my son announces that they are learning about sperm, eggs and genes at school.  OKAY, way more than I wanted to deal with, but I take the bull by the horns and try to get him to tell me what more he knows.  He doesn't want to talk about it.  Fine, but I make a mental note to dig into that conversation privately, at a different time.

Luckily, she did not notice the back side of the shirt lower down on the quilt.  Son did.  He starts reading and says, "What?!"  And I grab the quilt and flip it over.

Lesson learned: College created t-shirts probably should not be used in quilts used around the house until your kids are at least the same age as you when you got the shirts and then maybe you should still keep it under wraps when they are around.

What's one of your parent faux pas?