Mar 24 2009
When Our Kids Learn to Talk Dirty, we don’t want to Pass It On
There are somethings a parent doesn’t want to have to think will happen when their children are young, all of them pertaining to sex, foul language, and vulgarity. We expect our kids to be disobedient. How can they be anything else until we teach them otherwise?
Yet, sometimes as parents we forget to teach our kids how to speak. I, myself, am guilty of this, as are others. We cradle our children and become awed over their first words. We help build their vocabulary by pointing at objects and telling them what it is, repeating words, and generally talking, reading, and communicating with our kids.
Then one day, one of our children come home and shock us with their speech. The dirty words, cursing - swearing, however you want to call it, come tumbling out of the mouths of babes.
You think as a parent, if we never talk dirty in front of our kids they will never speak those words in return. But, even though we don’t talk dirty, someone else in our community and outside our homes does, and our kids are listening.
Last week, I stood in the park waiting for my oldest to get off the bus. A gentleman stood beside me chattering away on his cellphone. My youngest two were happily playing on a slide nearby. As I stood there, it was hard not to notice the dirty words repeatedly coming from the man’s mouth. He could have carried his conversation without half the vulgarity he used, especially when his 2 year old toddler came tugging on his pants.
“Who have sharpened their tongue like a sword. They aim bitter speech as thier arrow,” (Psalm 64:3)
I knew as soon as the dirty word came from my child’s mouth it was unfamiliar to the lips. After the shock of such dirty talk leaving my child’s mouth wore off, I promptly informed my child, explained to my child, and displined my child for the most vulgar of words had come to reach my ears.
Where did my child learn to talk dirty? Of course, it didn’t come from our home. It didn’t come from the park. It did come from the one place, institution we send our children to learn - school. More precisiouly, kids learning from adults and wanting to talk like their parents, who then pass it on to other kids at recess.
What kind of language do want your kids to talk? Speak today in a cleansing and refreshing way. Refrain from cursing or swearing, not only in front of your kids, but in the community as a whole. When we clean up our speech, wash out the dirty talk, then we pass on respect and clear communication to others.
What do you want your child to pass on to another?
