Children Using Bad Language at Younger Ages

When I was a child, it was very rare to hear cuss words coming out of the mouths of my peers. We did not even know any cuss words, perhaps because our parents policed themselves well enough so that they never used such language in front of their children. But times have changed, as there have been reports on the Internet as well as eyewitness accounts of children behaving very badly, using words much worse than "hell" in front of their friends and adults. Maybe it is because children have become desensitized to everything, being exposed to reality television shows, movies, and music that utilize foul language on a daily basis.

The unfortunate part of all this is that there are some parents who apparently think their child is being either cute, or precious, or both, when he or she utters a vulgar word. The much dreaded f-word for example, can regularly be heard throughout the malls and plazas where teens hang out. But it is not the teens who children are learning bad language from. Far from it. More than half the time, they learn it from their own parents, who do not think their child has any understanding of what they are saying. Some parents continue to remain clueless, while other parents appear downright shocked, especially if they grew up in another era where social propriety meant everything. In this case, it is easy to see which parents are actually parenting their children, and those who are just, well, giving birth to children.

Children who use cuss words may think they are acting grown up (it can be argued that even real adults do not cuss in public and if they do, they do it under their breath so nobody else can hear) but there is nothing mature about children cussing any more than there is about children having sex for the same reason. Parents do indeed have the power and authority to see to it that their children do not learn to cuss simply by not cussing in front of them, and also by the removal of popular culture from their homes. It is not necessary for young children to be watching television and learning the f-word from there, or from the latest rap or hip-hop artist. Cussing, like nose-picking, is not something that should be considered acceptable behavior from children in public. Parents who have children that cuss must think before allowing them to get away with it, and correct their child's actions so that others will recognize the fact that the child's parents are in fact doing something to correct bad behavior.

http://www.patspapers.com/story_stack/item/kids_say_the_things/#

http://www.sacbee.com/2010/11/30/3219437/little-cusses.html#