I have the mouth of a sailor. I didn’t always, but when I worked in the music industry, my boss tossed curse words and inappropriate language around so often I became immune to it – and, what’s worse, I adopted that habit myself. I also happened to grow up with a father who thought the word “goddamn” was to be used as an adverb, so naturally I also took kindly to the blasphemous saying.
When I became a mother I curbed my bad language (a little), but it wasn’t until Lily, who was 2 and extremely excited, ran around the beach one day yelling, “Goddammit!” that I realized I had to stop altogether. (My husband, who witnessed Lily’s outburst, has yet to curtail his swearing. But, he assures me that he’s “trying.” Um-hmm.)
The other day J and I were discussing a book her eldest son was reading and she said she didn’t like that it had words such as “hate” and “stupid” in it. Her comment is one I have heard a lot the past several years. Moms I know generally cannot stand when kids use harsh words, even if they are words we as adults use frequently and without thought. She said she heard one of her sons say to his brothers, “Guys! You have to clean up all this crap!” I laughed and said, “Well, at least he used the word correctly.” “Yes, but it sounds bad coming from a seven-year-old child’s mouth,” she said. Personally, I don’t have a huge problem with bad language. I don’t want my kids dropping the “G” bomb, but if they said, “This jump rope is so stupid!” I don’t feel the need to get upset. It very well might be a stupid jump rope.
My friend Wendy is one mom who could not care less about profanity. At one of her nephew’s milestone events he gave a speech and said, “And I’d like to thank Aunt Wendy for letting me swear in her house.” Wendy beamed with pride as her mother shot her the evil eye. “Oh, whatever,” Wendy said to her disapproving mother.
I don’t like to be the “do as I say not as I do” kind of parent and I feel we should lead by example. But how I do say, “What a moron!” and then say, “Oh, gee, you can’t say that”? I try to explain to my girls there are some words that are grown-up words and if kids say them they look bad, but the concept is lost on them. They will hear swear words throughout their lives, and no doubt they will hear them from their peers as early as elementary school. Considering all the other things my kids could do wrong, I’m just not as upset about hearing a few off-color words. If it’s between that and teenage pregnancy, for instance, I'll take cursing.
So tell me – how do you feel about kids using profanity? Please post a comment and be sure to vote in the poll on the upper right-hand of this blog.
Photo by Yamamoto Ortiz, courtesy of stock.xchng
4 comments:
I went through a phase in high-school (when I was on the debate team, go figure) when I swore like a sailor and my parents shut it down. Then, as an adult I went through a phase of yelling about how stupid other drivers were. It stressed me out so I had to quit.
Of course, I do have ways of letting off steam, but I figure admitting I don't swear is enough revelation for one blog comment
I'm more concerned about the ideas behind words than the words themselves. Cursing, meh. But if I hear my son calling a woman a bitch, THAT will be a s*^%-storm of epic proportions.
And, SWE, I don't generally curse, either. People who don't know me assume I'm religious.
Religious! Kimber, you kill me.
Tee hee-my swearing vocabulary was learned primarily at Sunday school. I want my daughter's introduction to cursing to take place in a more wholesome environment. ;-)
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