why shouldn't you say "Oh my God"??

[lovealatte]

My 4 year old has picked this phrase up, quite possibly from me unfortunately. Obviously I pick him up on it when he has said it and tell him it's not a polite thing to say. Instead I try to say oh my goodness or oh my gosh - recently he's said "no mummy that's not polite" when he's heard me say these, and I've said no these ones are ok. He just told me "God is someone who lives in heaven so why is it not polite to say god?" (we aren't religious but he has picked this information up when we have tried to tell him who god is - he asked). I am a bit stuck! I ended up telling him some words just make people feel sad when they hear them so we try not to say them. Any better suggestions???

"It makes some people sad when we say that, so it's better to say X instead" or "so it's better to say X when you're with other people".

Swearing doesn't offend me particularly. I tell the kids that they can think whatever they like in their head, but that when they are with other people they shouldn't swear as some don't like it. OMG makes me uncomfortable when other Christians say it (not sure why, none of my business), but not otherwise.

I'll be grateful if my son's first curse words aren't For Fuck's Sake. Mind you, he said Shit in context a while ago and he's only just turned two. Oops.

I am slowly getting better at saying Good Grief instead of OMG, but it's a habit 30 years in the making that's hard to kill.

I had the exact same with my four year old , I changed it to oh my chicken legs which he found really funny and I haven't heard oh my god since . It was very hard trying to explain so I took the easy way out

Jeepers creepers is to do wowth Jesus Christ isn't it? So still off the table here.

Also Jesus, Mary and Joseph etc.
All blasphemous

We are Christians. To my ear, it sounds disrespectful to use God's name in an exclamation of disbelief or shock. I didn't make a big thing of it with the children, but asked them to only use His name when they were speaking to or about Him.

Now that they are preteen / teenager age, the phrase "Oh my days" seems more popular in their peer group anyway.