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I live in Ireland and here it's quite common for parents to be okay with kids cursing (well not kids but teens/young adults). It seems though to be a strong taboo in America in general. Many young adults won't even curse in front of their parents cause they see it as disrespectful.
Do you think it is?
I think you're right, that most Americans don't like to see their CHILDREN cursing.
My kids are in their 30's. Cursing (at least around me) is not a frequent thing, but words get said sometimes. Now my stepson...that's a different story. You would think he did a stint in the Navy. ;-P
Allowing children, especially teens, to curse in front of their parents is child abuse. Of course if you can't control your own language in front of your kids then you are the problem.
When I was a teen, my parents sat me down and told me they don't care that I curse, but that I do it in a responsible manner. I was never to curse around them or other family members, and never in public so that strangers or kids could hear me. If I was hanging out with my friends in the car, or in their basement...have at it. Minute I got into public, I was to be respectful.
I'm 39 and still practice that. I won't curse in front of my parents, never in front of or around children, and generally not in any public setting where people can overhear me.
Around my good buddies that I've known for 20+ years on the golf course? Sure i'll swear.
I will try and pass the same lesson down to my kids.
Seated at the circus with my youngest, his wife and two children. Behind us in our section, three teen girls without supervision having a good time effing this and effing that. After a bit, my son turned around and said, nicely, "Girls, there are children here and there's no need for salty talk." One of the girls looked contrite and said, "I'm sorry." We heard nary another for the rest of the show.
Kids will make every attempt to look cool and grown up until someone reminds them they are neither.
When my children were small, I told them that there were some words that people said that they shouldn't because they might upset Grandmom. (I never told them that Grandmom was the purveyor of the bawdiest songs i ever heard!)
A father was teaching his young son not to use slang. He said, "Son, there are two words I don't want you to ever say; one is "swell" and the other is "lousy". The boy said, eagerly, "Okay, Dad, what are they?"
My kids are 19 and almost 17. I just ignore it. I'm not going to draw a line in the sand over something so trivial.
So you allow them to curse,
to be honest, I think that's a bit of an open minded approach. It really is quite silly if you think about it. I personally wouldn't curse in front of my parents or boss but we've been socially conditioned to think of it as bad. Words only have the power you give them.
to be honest, I think that's a bit of an open minded approach. It really is quite silly if you think about it. I personally wouldn't curse in front of my parents or boss but we've been socially conditioned to think of it as bad. Words only have the power you give them.
If words have no power then why use them?
Why don't you curse in front of your parents or boss?
Because words, all words have meaning and impact.
Else why not say darn instead of damn
Fork instead of f*ck
Gosh instead of God
How do you feel about someone using Jesus H Christ as a curse.
People are perfectly free to use coarse language if they choose.
The question is why choose to?
There's nothing cool, open minded or shocking about using crude words.
All it is is crude.
Cheers
I will say that my kids (one of whom is an adult) do know when to tone down the language. My son wouldn't swear in front of his boss, for example, and neither would swear in front of young children. I just ignore it in the house. They're young and we were all dumb at one point. It's all a learning experience anyway. They'll figure it out.
I think it's interesting that in Ireland the C-word is very mild, meaning something like "jerk", whereas in the U.S. it's far worse than the F-word and will get you drawn and quartered. I remember Sinead O'Connor calling herself that on Facebook a few years ago, and Americans were absolutely getting the vapors over it.
Just an observation.
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