Bad Words
Posted September 17, 2015 - 9:34am
What words that aren't truly curse words have you designated as "bad words" in your family? Also, do you use "curse words" in front of your kids?
I wonder because my dad would curse and just tell me not to say what he says when I was little, and in my house if someone says "stupid" or "butt" we're like "Heeeey, that's not cool." But I have a 5yo and a 9 yo so I imagine it might be different when they are older.
Also sometimes I say "butt" to make them laugh. I'm a bad example.
justamom
When they were young, I was very careful with what I said around them, but when they got older I was hypocritical. When I was angry I would let words slip & correct them when they did the same. Oh well.
sunnykathleen
I don't allow my kids to say, "shut up" to each other. I find it so rude!
CandyOvercaffed
I agree. It is rude! My five year old is a talker, so we have many opportunities to use that word. Thankfully, none of us has ever told her to "shut up". We say, "Can we take a break from the talking?" which started when my oldest was my only and about 3 years old. My husband and I were talking at the dinner table and she couldn't get a word in. She asked to take a break from the talking. It was so funny.
Your Kid's Table
Shut up is a definite no around here. We also don't allow stupid, dumb, idiot, etc. We do, however, say butt, lol!
Hallz105
Same here. "Butt" used to be "bum bum" LOL but they are a little older now....
CandyOvercaffed
I'm a child. I think butt is a funny word. It always makes me laugh.
jonbonjovious
LOL. I love this!
Frugal Minded M...
So funny that I read this tonight. Right before opening it up I was listening to my oldest tell me that his teacher said the word Pissed Off is a swear word when he said my mom will be pissed off if I come home with no homework. Guess that's my fault because I will tell him that sometimes. Guess I'm not the best example, but if I tell him other words he doesn't get the magnitude of my feelings.
CandyOvercaffed
Yes. I let things slip too. Sometimes I just don't have a better word. But I always follow with "Don't you say that!"
jonbonjovious
I think words are words. We create the idea that they are "bad". In a perfect world, perhaps we'd all speak properly--but we are imperfect and sometimes it just feels good to make one word the villain! I think it's okay to say them...and even okay to ask, "What word could I have used in it's place?" the greater our command of the English language the more words we have to choose from!My kiddos have learned the phrase: That was an efficacious effluvious fizgig. It's hilarious and means nothing more than "epic fart"!
beachcitymom
I don't like the word shut up either. I rarely curse around my son. My husband lets it slip more than I do. It is getting tougher as he is getting older but we don't allow typical cussing, shut up and lol.."butt" is not used anymore. ;) My son used to think that one was funny too..but now he thinks he is a teen since he is almost 12.
Hallz105
We say "shush" because it seems less harsh than shut up. My kids still say it and I always correct them but haven't been very good about actually reinforcing the bad behavior.
Hallz105
We definitely watch what we say around our kids and it's very rare that we slip up. When we get together with friends though, other parents aren't as careful.When my kids were pretty little I caught them saying "idiot" and "stupid". I couldn't figure out where they learned it. Turns out it was from the movie Toy Story! Way to go Disney! It never caught my attention until I heard my toddlers repeating it!
CandyOvercaffed
It's so funny how those little words get slipped into kids movies and we don't notice it until our kiddos repeat it!
jonbonjovious
Don't you hate that? We watch movies that are PG sometimes and I think, If you hadn't said that word or done that gesture (which was totally unnecessary) this would be an awesome family movie
CandyOvercaffed
So funny that you guys mentioned "shut up" -- we don't use that either. So when we watched The Princess Diaries for the first time, they said it as an exclamatory statemtent (like "no way!") and the girls just looked at me with big eyes. It was hilarious! I told them it was OK to watch it as long as they didn't say it. Ha!
jonbonjovious
I think children make us very aware of our vocabulary. I had a child who stood up in church during Fast and Testimony and shared with the congregation, "I am so glad at my house we stopped using the F word." My husband and I were slinking down in the pew...the word he was talking about was "FART"...I had a child who cursed like a sailor. We had a family home evening in the bathroom where we all wrote every bad word we knew on toilet paper and flushed them down the toilet...I think my child taught me many new words and he was five.My kiddos are such a wide range of age, we really don't put limits on words. They are respectful to others and we play a lot of vocabulary games. My husband has a potty mouth so i think my kiddos just roll with things (I'm not excusing my husband)...I just try and give my children a larger pot to pull from in their sentences.
Frugal Minded M...
My husband tends to swear more too and my youngest picks it up quite frequently. Love the vocabulary games idea, especially with 3 kids coming home with vocab lists each week. What are some of the games you play.
jonbonjovious
We play homonyms...(i.e: red/read) We take turns saying/spelling words that sound a like but are spelled differently. If you can't think of one, you're out.We play Syllabols: We start with "A" and 1 syllable words. After the first person says their word, the next player picks up on the next letter in the alphabet. If there are still contendors at the end of the alphabet. You start over, with two-syllabol words, then 3 syllable words.We also play: onomatopoeia...say a word that sounds like its name and spell it (i.e. sizzle)My kiddos love it!
Frugal Minded M...
Will definitely be trying some of those with the kids. Thanks for the suggestions
CandyOvercaffed
I love reading all your responses and perspectives on language! I agree that kids make us more aware of what we do and say. I feel like they are mirrors -- and that's not always a good thing!