Swearing Around Kids

**Teegzie** · 21-01-2009 08:35

Since having DD I have been so careful not to swear around her! I've taken a page out of my brother's fiance's book and am swearing like a school techer! Everything is "banana head" "silly billy" "breadsticks" and "ning nong"!

I almost killed my BIL for saying the 'c' word around DD!

(although I accept the fact he is in the army and swearing all the time kinda goes with the territory)

Anyway, DD and I were dancing to some music yesterday when my Mum rang. We were chatting and she said "Ooh, you'r listening to the Violent Femmes!" and we talked about how great they are and then Mum asked if DD was napping.
"Nope she's here with me... say hello to Nonie, Alice!"
My Mum paused and said "You do realise you are listening to a song called 'Dance, Mother F#@%er, Dance' don't you?"
I freaked cried out "OH S@#$" and turned off the cd. Then realised I'd screamed "OH S@#$" around my daughter!

DD is only 7 months old, but I felt so bad! What if my little angels first word was a rude one!

Do any of you swear around your kids or are you as obsessive as I am and want to tell off people who dare to use 'adult' words around your little one?

**MothersMilk** · 21-01-2009 08:41

I try not to swear around my DD or any one elses kids but i'm not obsessive about it. If a swear word slips i'm not too fussed.
I find everyone is pretty good at not swearing but if someone was swearing lots ie 'f this and f that' i would be annoyed and say something.

**Roopee** · 21-01-2009 08:43

Sometimes I do and sometimes I dont. It depends.
I dont get shirty if someone swears around my kids- the older ones know there are words that adults can say but kids can not.

I might have to tell my DH to lay off though- my 3 (almost 4) yr old DD came in the other night telling that "Daddy's out there telling the flys to futt off'

I had to give her the chat that 'futt' is a naughty word and daddy needs some time in 'time out' for using it

**bada** · 21-01-2009 08:43

I'm trying really hard to cut it out and to make DF cut it out, have been trying since I was pregnant, but still slips out occasionally

The hardest is in the car when DF has a go at someone! What to do?
The music thing is a whole other thing to deal with grrr. So much good music with swearing, violent femmes just for one!
The other night we went out to a vegan restaurant/cafe and they were playing The Herd, a song that goes like this "Wake up - this country needs a f***ing shake up, Wake up - these c***s need a shake up" I was like hmm, I like the track, but for a cafe where I'm taking my daughter? What to do....

**Jakois** · 21-01-2009 08:54

I have a terrible potty mouth

.

I try to not swear but it always just slips out

.

**Jakois** · 21-01-2009 08:55

Originally Posted by Roopee

Sometimes I do and sometimes I dont. It depends.
I dont get shirty if someone swears around my kids- the older ones know there are words that adults can say but kids can not.

I might have to tell my DH to lay off though- my 3 (almost 4) yr old DD came in the other night telling that "Daddy's out there telling the flys to futt off'

I had to give her the chat that 'futt' is a naughty word and daddy needs some time in 'time out' for using it

Sorry, but that is priceless...

**Whoops** · 21-01-2009 08:56

I didn't realise how much I sweared in front of my kids until my five year old yelled out from the toilet one day day "who left their f***ing shoes in here"

I am a lot more careful these days

although the odd word slips on occasion.

**Benji** · 21-01-2009 08:59

I was with my friend who swears a LOT the other day (he never swears out of malice) and his 2 yo daughter said f$%&. The problem at 2 is that she doesn't understand it's a grown up word..

We laughed so hard, I have no idea why...

I think the best policy is to watch your mouth around youngens, as much as you can. Don't beat yourself up over it though

we're all human.

**Teegzie** · 21-01-2009 09:09

Originally Posted by Amy81

I'm trying really hard to cut it out and to make DF cut it out, have been trying since I was pregnant, but still slips out occasionally

The hardest is in the car when DF has a go at someone! What to do?
The music thing is a whole other thing to deal with grrr. So much good music with swearing, violent femmes just for one!
The other night we went out to a vegan restaurant/cafe and they were playing The Herd, a song that goes like this "Wake up - this country needs a f***ing shake up, Wake up - these c***s need a shake up" I was like hmm, I like the track, but for a cafe where I'm taking my daughter? What to do....

My DP swears all the time at other drivers! And I don't want to say anything since he is stressed out in the car and that is why he is yelling! I do pull him up when he uses the 'c' word in his rants though!

So much of my favourite music has swearing in it. And not just the occasional word to but an awful lot of 'f' this and 'f' that! Goess I'll have to resign myself to listening to the Wiggles while I'm around DD!

I try not to be too worried about swearing around DD, or other people swearing around her because it is going to happen. But I'm so aware at the moment that she is listening to everything we say and if she is hearing swear words too often they are going to pop up once she starts talking!

**tee** · 21-01-2009 09:14

Originally Posted by Roopee

I might have to tell my DH to lay off though- my 3 (almost 4) yr old DD came in the other night telling that "Daddy's out there telling the flys to futt off'

that is such a

but adorable moment all at once.

To be honest, I never really thought too much about it before DS starting swearing and it's incredibly mortifying. I hate it so much and I wish it was one thing we'd been told to be careful of! We've both stopped now and are replacing the bad words with other words, which is hilarious - but still not catching on with DS. We went from ignoring it (for weeks) because we were told that was what would work, to admonishing him (which made things worse I think), and now we're just telling him that it's a bad word, and we're trying even harder to push the cuter swears on him (he does call DP a 'boob' now because of Horton Hears a Who), hehe.

He also picks it up from movies too unfortunately. So when we stopped swearing, he was still noticing it in movies and mimicking it. He's attracted to anything crass like a magnet! So we stopped watching any movies like that around him too. Worst thing is, even a really tame 'M' rated movie will occasionally have quite a loud and attention-grabbing F word - and it starts DS up all over again

I don't say anything when someone else swears around DS, but I would if it was excessive. I've said to DS a couple of times when other people have sworn and he's looked straight at me, that 'uh-oh there's that naughty word hey'.

But yeah, changing from being a potty-mouth to someone who has to say 'FFfff ... far out' when they hurt themselves has been HARD. But until your 3 year old starts screaming obscenities in the local coffee shop/ book shop/ newsagent/ playground because you've told him to put something down ... well, that's when things start to get upsetting! Well, for me anyway. I think the worst thing is because DP and I are heavily tattooed, people just roll their eyes and figure that we're just trash. And we're not, but we definitely look it when DS is carrying on that way!

I'm just hoping as he gets older it'll be easier to explain that there's words that adults use, that children just don't!