Amy stopped in her tracks as she approached the doorway of Max's bedroom. "Max. What is going on in here?" The blankets were pulled off his bed, hanging off the corner of the dresser, along with books and toys strewn around the room.

"I'm building a fort. Do you like it?" Max smiled proudly at his handy work.

Rubbing her hand across her face, Amy took a breath before saying anything. "It's very nice, but you need to clean this up. Penny and Bernadette are coming over. We were going to take you to the park. We can't go unless you pick up your room. I'll help you make your bed again."

The five-year-old stomped his foot at his mother. "I don't want to pick it up. I like my fort."

"Max, you won't have time to play in your fort once we are done at the park. We're going to Sheldon's for dinner, then it's bath night when we get home," Amy tried to reason with the child, who was growing more upset with each word. "Come on, I'll help you clean this up."

Staring his mother in the eye, Max said three words before turning his back and starting to crawl under the blanket draped across the room. "You're a bitch."

Amy caught him by the foot as he was attempting to crawl from her. This caused him to start flailing his legs while continuing to try to get away. Dragging Max from under the blanket, Amy quickly picked him up and carried him to the bathroom, where she sat him on the floor. "That's it. No park or going to Sheldon's for dinner. You can sit here until you're ready to apologize to me. That's not a nice word and you don't call women that. Once you apologize to me, you can clean up your room." Amy left him sitting on the bathroom floor while she retreated to the living room. Picking up her phone, she spent the next twenty minutes mindlessly scrolling until she heard footsteps behind her.

"I'm sorry, momma. Are you mad at me?"

"A little, but I'm more hurt that you would call me that. Come here," she reached out for Max to join her on the couch. The boy got settled next to Amy before she spoke again. "Now, can you tell me where you heard that word?"

"I don't want to. I don't want you to be mad at Penny."

Amy gave her son a quick hug before standing, "Let's go pick up your room before Penny and Bernadette get here."

"Are we still going to the park?" Max questioned while following Amy to his room.

"I know I said we weren't, but I was upset when I said that. If you help clean up without complaining, we'll still go to the park for the afternoon."

The three women took the five-year-old to the park as promised, but Amy was quiet most of the afternoon, which did not go unnoticed by her friends. "Is everything okay, Ames?" Penny asked.

"No," Amy answered while watching her son run across the playground with the other kids. "Max called me a bitch earlier when I told him it was time to pick up his room."

Bernadette held back a giggle. "Little kids swearing is kind of cute. You can't be too upset with him."

"He's not the one I'm mad at. I made him sit in time out until he was ready to apologize to me, after which we cleaned up his room. While we were picking up, we talked about why that's not a nice word and not something he should be calling women."

"If Max isn't the one you're mad at for this, who are you mad at?" Penny asked her friend.

Amy turned to look at the blonde, "You. When I asked him where he heard that word, he said he didn't want to tell me because he didn't want me to be mad at you. That tells me he heard it from you. How could you say something like that in front of my kid?"

"I'm sorry, Amy. I don't even know when he could have possibly heard me say that," Penny paused as she thought back to her recent interactions with the boy. "It had to have been when I was watching him for you during your date night with Sheldon last week. I got a phone call from one of the girls at work while he was eating dinner. I must have said it then. I didn't even realize I said it at the time. You know I've been trying to keep my language in check when he's around. Do you want me to talk to Max? Apologize to him for what I said?"

"You're an adult, I can't force you to apologize to a five-year-old. But I can ask you to not swear around my kid," Amy glanced at her watch. "We should get going. You know how Sheldon gets if we're late for dinner."

The next afternoon, Max was in the living room when there was a knock on the door. "Momma, someone's here. It's not Sheldon cuz they didn't knock three times. Can I open the door?" He yelled across the apartment.

"Wait for me to get there. You can't reach the chain to unlock the door." Amy joined the boy at the door, where she undid the chain and helped Max open the door. "Hi, Penny. What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to make it up to you for yesterday. I would like to apologize to Max and give you an afternoon off. You can go to the bookstore, or a movie, or even just take a walk by yourself. I didn't mean to say that in front of Max and I don't want you to be mad at me."

Amy crossed her arms and rolled her eyes as she allowed her best friend to step into the apartment. "I know you didn't mean to, but you still did. I don't want my son growing up thinking it's okay to call women that. You can apologize to Max, but I don't feel like going out this afternoon."

"Thank you, Amy. I promise it will never happen again," Penny stated as she turned to Max. "Hey, Max. Can we talk? I said something you shouldn't have heard and I'd like to apologize for what happened yesterday."

The five-year-old smiled and nodded, "Sure. Momma's still mad at you."

"I know, and I'm trying to make it better. Can we go to your room?" The blonde followed the boy towards his bedroom. She sat on the floor and leaned back against the side of his bed. "Come here." She motioned for him to sit near her. "Your mom told me what happened yesterday."

Max hung his head as he stated, "I called her a bad word. She said I shouldn't call people that."

"That's right. She also told me you didn't want to tell her where you heard that word because you didn't want her to be mad at me. While I appreciate you not wanting to tell on me, I shouldn't have said that in front of you last week. I'm sorry for you getting in trouble because of something I did. I hope you're not mad at me?"

"You're momma's best friend. I can't be mad at you," Max didn't fully understand Penny's apology, but was ready to move on from the events of the previous day. "Will you help me build a fort again? I tried yesterday, but it wasn't as good as the one you helped me make last week."

Penny nodded at the boy, "Sure. Why don't you ask your mom if she wants to help?"