Let Your Kids Curse

It was back in second grade when I learned the f-word.

“Jeremy, c’mon, what’s the f-word? What is it???”

“Okay, okay, I’ll tell you. It’s f-u-c-k…”

I stood there, trying to sound it out, (I was still in ESL at the moment) and finally, I looked up at Jeremy and then at my classroom teacher.

“Fuuuck….”

My teacher looked at me, mortified that I, the little quiet Asian kid, had just uttered such a repulsive sound. She went on to punish me with detention during lunchtime, in which I sat at my desk and watched my friends (Friends? Thanks a lot, Jeremy…) have fun running around on the school’s black asphalt.

Looking back on it, adults are just way too strict when it comes to what comes out of a child’s mouth. The grown-ups that I grew up with always tended to scowl when I repeated what I heard from MTV and American Pie, and for a long time, I couldn’t fully comprehend why. It was just something I couldn’t do outside my group of friends.

Nowadays, it seems even worse, with Youtube videos of cursing babies popping up everywhere and movie ratings lowering their standards. (Didn’t know you can have penises in R-movies…ahem, Bruno…) I can only imagine the confusion among little kids today, as their elders tell them to do the exact opposite of what they see on the TV/computer. What happens is then these kids might go to college dropping every awful expression they can think of, or awkwardly mutter a foul word during a job interview.

But all this can be prevented! How? Just let them curse! If the cursing really bothers you, ignore them when they tell you stories involving the s-word or the a-word. Drop hints for their apparent rudeness but don’t lash out on them. Give them a small sense of responsibility for their actions, ‘cause that’s gonna come a long way when they enter the professional world.

Of course, I can only vouch for myself here. Since my parents don’t speak much English, I was left alone to my own devices. (Or words…) I went through a few phases here and there, like in third grade when I constantly mixed up “shoot” and “shit.” Eventually, as I met more people, shared more conversations, and got more detentions, I began to gain an understanding of the effects of what I say.

So don’t mind it too much, unless your child is saying “(Bleep) you, you (bleep) (bleep) (bleep) piece of (bleep) (bleeeep)” when you ask him to clean his room. Then, maybe, you probably shouldn’t take my writings so seriously.