Tuesday, January 14, 2014

My son and the F bomb...

Today my son definitely said THE F word. Three times. No doubt about it. And the result? I told him it's a bad word and I never want to hear it coming from his mouth again. I feel guilty. I know growing up, my parents would've smacked the tar outta me for saying that. I wasn't even allowed to say "what the hell". I remember the first time that phrase slipped my lips in the presence of my mom. 
So where is this coming from? Not me. I don't curse around my kids. I try to not swear at all. And my husband is deaf so unless he signs it, he doesn't say it either. What other options? TV? My kids don't watch anything that I don't approve of. They have minds like sponges that can soak up and splash out everything imaginable. Radio? I only listen to Christian, their CDs, and the occasional flipping through channels and stopping on good songs that I know aren't going to come back and bite me. What does that leave me? 
Games. Yep, we are all gamers here. Even the kiddos. But I make sure to turn the volume down. I know what the content of my Black Ops and Halo might be. So I mute them when I play. I've also warned my husband. But there have been occasions when he forgets and I catch him. I remind him and shut off the sound. Not like he needs it anyhow, right? I've also warned my brother though he seems to hate turning the sound off. He hasn't learned to make his own noises in the game and hasn't learned the fun of yelling "Die!!!" as he slices and dices the living dead Nazi's. 
That's another thing... I've been faced with the question of whether the children should see us playing such a game. I've banned them from watching my husband play Grand Theft Auto. I dread the day my son asks me why Bryan's character is going into a house filled with naked women on poles. Or tells me he can't wait to steal a car and shoot back at the police. Bad enough I came home from work and he told me "On daddy's game, the guy took his shirt off and drove fast cars. Then he took his pants off and the cops shot him!" *insert head slap here* Followed by, "Bryan!" 
We have had talks about this. I know how poisonous the games can be to young minds. Today makes that point very real. 
And if the game doesn't come with a foul mouthed character, you can bet there's going to be some hot shot 8 year old spouting off profanities that would make a sailor blush. I cannot tell you how many times I've been asked personal questions because some kid found out he was playing with a "girl"! What I'm wearing has no bearing on how well I do against you. Cursing a bloody storm worth of words won't make you play better and definitely won't impress the intelligent opposition. 
I can't erase what has been done. But I'm going to be even more cautious of what they are exposed to from now on. My husband and brother too, better watch out. 

2 comments:

  1. So many folks out there smack the kids and dismiss it while they keep this offensive stuff in the home. Really? We can't keep them from hearing it. I was at the store and 1 isle over someone was cussing up a blue streak like they were the only one there. unfortunately for me it wasn't just my delicate ears that had to listen to it, I had several of my children with me. So I said, "Hey. Shut up." They moved on and so did we. So my point is we can't keep our youngsters from hearing all these words but you are right in teaching them that they are rude and should not be said. I taught ALL my children that a word is just a word. It becomes a bad one when the heart attitude changes it to a bad one. For example ass is a word in the Bible describing a donkey. Our society uses it in a derogatory way making it bad.

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    1. I agree. I don't think smacking them and moving on does any good. Which is why I let him know that word is a bad word and should not be said. I know they hear things when we go out too which annoys me. I like the Target policy on such things as your example above. If you ever have such a thing happen in Target, let someone know. They will, most likely, have a manager or AP person ask that person to leave or end such verbal behavior as they are a family store. I'm going to use your approach of the heart attitude explanation as I think its perfect for putting these things in perspective.

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