Teach her to say, "Well, pardon me all to hell." Much nicer than "asshole."

Don't know how else you could have handled it. You don't want Willa calling everyone "ASSHOLE" ... but you want her to learn they're out there and deserve to be challenged on their assholery. What she witnessed today was a strong woman not allowing herself to be bullied by a jerk. There are worse lessons a kid could learn.

You could've stabbed the fucker. Then you wouldn't have to swear in front of Willa.

Ugh. It's so amazing how we can allow such a total dipshit affect our mood for the entire day. I bet this just made you more excited to be moving out of New York.

Unfortunately, I'm sure this isn't the first time Willa will witness rudeness and cursing at the fault of others - strangers even. It seems inevitable in the world we live in today. Which is really a sad, sad, thing.

hmmm ... although hearing "asshole" come from the mouth of the cutest-baby-ever might be a mood lightener! maybe? :)

Yes Staci, but only if she said like, "ash-hooooooole."

reminds of a 'Friends' episode...where Ross's son starts to talk and the first word out of his mouth is 'ass hooooooooooole'....
Be careful she will soon be like a sponge absorbing and saying everything she hears :)

Yeah, I'm trying not to swear in front of little ears so much too, but responding to someone who is way out of line and so far up their own entitled butt that they can see daylight through their own nose kinda makes you my new hero.

I have a confession; it's the first word my son swore in the carseat when I used restraint with a driver. I guess I must've have said it a time or 100 when I didn't think he could hear me:/ He said it for me. I had to laugh.

One day my ex and I were doing lawn work, and Nick, our 14 month old son, was working with his own little miniature lawn tool set (it's called "conditioning"). He was singing to himself in this sweet sing-song-y way, and we surreptitiously raked our way around to him so we could hear his song. He was singing, "C--K-sucker, C--K-sucker" in the most precious little voice you ever heard. This word was acquired by driving around with Mommy. He turned out great (in my subjective opinion). Willa will hear lots of people swear by the time she grows up. That's not going to hurt her, because you'll teach her what's appropriate. But the whole anger thing, and letting poisonously self-righteous people ruin your day? Hey, it's hard enough that we all have toxic people in our lives, through no choice of our own (relatives, co-workers). Try not to LET them in. Put those thoughts out with the garbage that was blocking the sidewalk. You know you were in the right, but there will always be assholes. Not to worry--you're not going to raise one! That's all you can really claim--all you can be responsible for.
This guy was a rude asshole, who'd probably be happy to know he ruined your good mood. You wouldn't want to make that asshole happy, right? Happy Mother's Day to a great mom.

I agree that children are sponges for any kind of language, good or bad. In this situation, some gentle sarcasm could help:

1) "Oh dear, the eyes in the back of my head weren't working correctly." (Say with British accent.)

2) "You know, if you keep talkin' like that, people are gonna think you are from New York or something." (Say with Southern accent.)

Yep, before you know it she will be yelling asshole in the middle of a very public place. My mom told me that when I was a baby she took me to Krogers (the store my dad worked at the time) to shop. I decided to start yelling "PENIS" in the middle of the store and refused to stop. Yeah, sorry mom.

How about "do I hear you volunteering to walk my dog or are you offering to push the stroller, assHOLE?" ;) I have cursed that jerkwad with broken zippers so put that smile back where it belongs.

Well, if your daughter yells "asshole" at people who are assholes...

My daughter called someone a "f**khead" in the parking lot of the grocery store the other day. She used the word appropriately, but, since it is not a swear word I usually use (being partial to asshat and douchewaffle) - I did wonder where she had picked it up. Also, fortunately, her Vietnamese accent is still so thick that I was able to cover by saying, "it's not nice to call people fatheads, sweet pea." (I'm not sure the f**khead in question heard her or not...)

This post reminds me of a story from the (very highly recommended) children's book "Zen Shorts." Anyway, the story is called "A Heavy Load."

Two traveling monks reached a town where there was a young woman waiting to step out of her sedan chair. The rains had made deep puddles and she couldn't step across without spoiling her silken robes. She stood there, looking very cross and impatient. She was scolding her attendants. They had nowhere to place the packages they held for her, so they coudln't help her across the puddle. The younger monk noticed the woman, said nothing, and passed by. The older monk quickly picked her up and put her on his back, transported her across the water, and put her down on the other side. She didn't thank the older monk, she just shoved him out of the way and departed. As they continued on their way, the young monk was brooding and preoccupied. After several hours, unable to hold his silence, he spoke out. "That woman back there was very selfish and rude, but you picked her up on your back and carried her! Then she didn't even thank you!
"I set the woman down hours ago," the older monk replied. "Why are YOU still carrying her?"

I loved this story - probably because I am always the one who can't let things go! Oh well, something to strive for, anyway! :)

It's a New York thing! I find that people are so rude in NY. I lived there for years then moved to NJ after my kids were born and am so much happier. People are so nice here. Everyone was so nasty on the Upper East Side and the people working at Duane Reade and Agata and Valenta made me so mad everyday. I hated leaving the apt. No one smiles!

I think its time to teach your dog how to do nasty things on strangers (on command of course)…sounds like it could be valuable in the future…

You would be doing the kid a great disservice if you didn't teach her to use the word "Asshole" appropriately. No New Yorker should ever be left without it.