Today it’s getting harder and harder to keep your children from being exposed to profanity. It’s on television more and more, and even the bleeping out of it has gotten pretty easy to figure out. You can easily read the lips of all these reality shows that even write out the words on the bottom of the screen taking out only select letters. Even the acronyms “wtf” or “omfg” needs to be explained, especially when they pop up on billboards in cities for popular teenage television programs. Here are some ways to keep your children’s mouths from spewing these profanities, and how to explain them when they do hear or see them.
First and foremost, the best way to prevent your kids from hearing or repeating cuss words is to not expose them to these words. This means keeping a clean mouth around them. If you are a person that uses these words a lot, make up words that you can but in place of them. It’s a hard habit to break but if you get used to saying other words in its place it will soon become natural. This will prevent you from blurting out something negative if put in a bad situation, like getting cut off driving for instance.
Explain to your children that just because they may hear a cuss word, it is never ok to repeat it. If something they know says a bad word around them let them know that just because they say it doesn’t make it ok. The words are bad and make they person saying it look uneducated. Let them know that these words are said out of anger and because the person saying them can’t think of a better word to use to say what they want to say. Explain it in terms they can understand depending on their age. If you start early it won’t be as much as an issue when they get older and hear it coming from their peers. Let them know that other children won’t think it’s funny, or cool. That they will think they have a dirty mouth and they wont want to be friends with you if you use profanity. If they are exposed to profanity through older siblings, or classmates, let them know that this is just something that the older kids do because they think it makes that cool, but it really only makes them look bad. Older siblings should be allowed to slide on using these words either. Even though they are older they should still abide by the rules you set. So if it benefits the younger children, ban it from their lips as well.
If you do hear a bad word coming from your child, never laugh or smile at it. This will only encourage more bad behavior. They days of washing your child’s mouth out with soap are gone. It’s up to the parents to explain these words and instill good behavior and morals into your child’s personality before the words come from your child’s lips. Be sure to consider all sources of profanity your children may hear. Some parents may not think of it but the internet, and video games are a source for bad words. While playing online on video games there is no way to prevent a person from saying a bad word. Often if your child has an earpiece in to talk you can’t hear what is being said. With the popularity of these games chances are they are talking with someone older who may use profanity. Check the settings to see if this can be blocked. Check the rating of the video game as well, as some have bad words built right into the story of the game.
If you explain why the words are bad, and make the person using them look silly, then you will have an easier time keeping your children from saying them. If your child seems like an angel who would never say bad words, it’s still a good idea to explain these cuss words to them because you never know when they will say one and catch you off guard.
