Swearing is something we all fear our kids doing in public. People often say it all starts at home, so if you swear in front of your kids, they may think it’s okay to do this. Do you let the swear words fly out of your mouth at home?
Moms facing off this week
Audrey McClelland, founder of Mom Generations, and Lolli Franklin, founder of Better in Bulk.
The scenario
Let me set the scene…
You’re at home making dinner. The kids are playing in the other room or doing their homework at the kitchen table.
You’re talking to your husband or venting to your best girlfriend on the phone about your day.
Your language isn’t the most proper at the moment.
Question: Do you swear in front of your kids?
Oh, man… I hate to admit this, but I do swear in front of my kids. I know. I know. I know. It’s not good.
And let me preface this post with a disclaimer: I’m not walking around with a trash mouth at home swearing every two seconds. That’s not at all what I mean. But I have been known to drop a swear or two around the boys.
If I get on a roll with my husband or my best friend, “something” may be dropped. Whenever I happen to say something around the boys, I always back it up with saying, “You are not allowed to ever use that language!” It’s something that I try not to do, but it does happen.
My parents would sometimes swear in front of us when we were kids, but they made it very clear that that language is never to be used outside of the house, and you know what? I listened to them. I never ever swore in school or on the playing fields or anywhere in public. I have adapted that same logic with my own sons.
As my sons are getting older, I’m obviously becoming more and more aware that they are like sponges. They absorb everything they hear. I also know they’re like little parrots, and this worries me when I swear in front of them.
Fortunately we haven’t had any mishaps with the boys and swearing and I am making it my mission to watch what I say in front of them. But… yes, I haven’t been an angel when it comes to the swearing.
Better in Bulk
I was raised in a house where the word “gosh” was a swear word. We didn’t say crap or hell or anything similar.
I’m sure my mother cringed when I married my husband, who has a more colorful mouth. (He really is good around my family and kids, and he’s mellowed out after 16 years of marriage.)
Now that I have a family of my own, I have maintained a no-swearing policy at home and I expect my kids not to swear out of the house as well. I don’t swear at all — at home, with my friends or in print. That doesn’t mean that I don’t think it at times, though.
I suppose my perception of swearing has a lot to do with the way I was raised, but when I hear someone swear it sounds ignorant and angry. And, yes, that goes for my husband’s swearing as well.
I feel the same way when people use words like “shite” or phrases like “Shut the front door” — it’s all swearing to me, and I don’t want that in my house.
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