SHARKWATER

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Naughty Words

See? I told you so. Civil discourse is going to hell in a handbasket, and it's all because we can't control ourselves in front of our kids. I exaggerate here, but truly, these people appear not to get it. Small children (here I'm talking up to about age 6 or 7) just don't know how to read the context of a conversation, so they don't understand when or why it might be appropriate (or not) to swear.

And if they hear it all the time from their parents, what conclusion can we expect them to draw? It's one thing if they occasionally hear one of their parents swear when they get very angry or something, but if every sentence is punctuated with F-bombs, then of course they will parrot them.

I was stunned when a friend of our told us her kid (about 2-1/2 at the time, I believe) had told her to "F*** off." Then she explained that the kid had learned it from watching The Sopranos. Ah, well, what did you expect?

We learn from our teachers. And when we are the teachers, others learn from us. Or as Jack Flanders said, "What seems to be coming at you is coming from you."

It's not cute. It's obnoxious.

No comments: