Parenting Porcupines

Candy and Cuss Words

Episode Summary

Main Topic: Cussing in front of your kids: yay or nay? Subtopic: Valentine’s messages and the use of words for good or evil.

Episode Notes

On the blog here.

Episode art: Photo by ROMAN ODINTSOV on Pexels.com

It’s almost Valentine’s Day and the GenXer in Kasie wants to reject the Hallmark Holiday on principle. 

• According to this link science says it’s perfectly okay to swear in front of children.
• And this article that argues it’s time to get the eff over it already, we can all be caring and loving and still let off some profanity now and then.
• This article gives us stages of cussing. Let’s discuss:

1. Adorable little shits — babies don’t know what’s going on. Score: A
2. Foul-mouthed mimics — toddlers repeat what you say, sometimes with hilarious mispronunciations and uses. Score: B+
3. Shocked sweary sponges — elementary school kids have a complicated relationship with swearing because they know it’s not supposed to be done by them. Or you. Score: B-
4. Evolving curse machines — as they grow toward teen hood, they may use swearing on the sly to gain street cred with their friends but are likely to hide the habit from you. Score B.
5. Luck pushing years — as tweens and pre-teens, you’ll see them try to see what they can get away with. It’s harder to reprimand when they know you do it. So should you just let them? Score: C
6. All bets are off — as teens, they’re likely to aim those cuss words right at you. So isn’t it better to teach them who the real target is? The government. Duh. Score: A.

We get real about what others think of us and how that changes or influences our behavior. We talk about being authentic and wearing a mask and how common that “mask” is in Southern society. We talk about whether not our “mask” person is who we really are.

It gets deep.