I WAS prepared that it would happen some day. I knew that I had to deal with it sooner or later.

But I must admit it came as a shock when it did. The other day, my 5-year-old son said the F word. Yes, you heard me right.

The F word.

Yes, the one that he should have no idea about a year after graduating from nursery.

And he said it so innocently, while he and his 9-year-old sister were in the back seat of the car, talking and making jokes as usual.

But there was no mistaking the word.

Immediately after we heard it, everyone went dead silent in the car. My wife and I looked at each other in shock, wondering if our ears were faulty.

But the fact that we all stopped talking at the same time confirmed things.

I turned around to confront the little man, who looked guilty as charged.

“What did you just say, son?” I asked.

He declined to repeat the word, although I could tell that he knew that he had said something bad.

To tell you the truth, I did not really know what to do at the time.

I mean, I was sure that he did not know the meaning of what he said.

But what really shocked was that he had even been exposed to the word.

In the car, my first reaction was to tell Raul that he should not have used that word.

He nodded his head silently but I knew that I could not leave the issue there.

When we got home, I took him aside and asked him where he had heard that word.

My wife and I are definitely careful with our language around the kids and I know that grandma and the maid can’t be the culprits, so I asked him if he learnt it at school.

He said that he had, and that one of his friends had used the word while playing.

Did he know what it meant? No.

Does he know that it is a bad word? Err, yes.

I then stressed to my son that he should not use bad words like that again and that he would be punished if he did.

I got a tearful nod of acknowledgement this time. But after a quick, reassuring hug, he went off scampering for his toys, looking none the worse for wear.

I, on the other hand, was devastated. What is going on with kids these days?

I mean I know they are growing up quicker, but to hear such words at kindergarten is too much, no? Looking back, I probably first heard the word when I entered an all-boys secondary school, which means I was 12 going on 13.

My son is seven years ahead of that curve.

I suppose the word is used a lot more these days – by almost anybody and for almost any reason and even in so many pop songs.

Which could possibly explain why my son’s playground buddy got wind of it and spread the “wealth”.

Still, I never expected that curve ball to be thrown at me this soon. I guess we have to be prepared for other surprises in this very different world our children live in.

Sigh.

This article was first published in The New Paper.