I am a former sailor. I read Cracked.com. I watch South Park. I am no stranger to foul language. I know what it is, and I know how to use it.
I've been fairly good in my life with keeping my vocabulary clean in situations where those words would not go over well, or would be a poor influence when I'm supposed to be a good influence.
I know some families who are able to keep their children from watching TV, or severely restrict TV watching. That doesn't work for our family. My wife and I both have shows we like, and the kids are always there. I'll let her speak for her own shows, but the kids have been in the room with each of us as we watch our preferred shows.. I tend to avoid shows with gratuitous cussing, but some "damn" and "hell" are unavoidable in many cases. Also in some cases, slang terms for anatomy have become mainstream. They're going to show up.
I don't mind it if it serves somewhat of a purpose. When it's just there for the sake of being there, I get annoyed. In Transformers 2, the mom got stoned and ran around campus repeating the S word over and over again. That served no purpose. It annoyed me. It's like the director and writers said "You know what would be funny? A middle aged-woman stoned, staggering around campus saying the S word". It served no purpose for the story, and would not be missed. It was also a surprise to many, since Transformers 1 was hailed as "family friendly". A lot of families went to see the second installment expecting the same thing. Hah. I knew ahead of time it wouldn't be, and the producers were expecting it to surprise people. I didn't mention it to my wife for some reason.
I don't remember ever having trouble with Joshua's language. Caleb, on the other hand, knows how to push the limits. He loves shows like "America's Funniest Videos" and "TruTV Presents World's Dumbest". His current favorite is "Wipeout", which is a true family show and we don't have to worry about language. Just people landing on their faces while the hosts make fun of them.
In the beginning, whenever I heard Caleb utter an improper word, I started asking him if he ever heard me say that word. He would say no. I then set the policy that if they don't hear myself or mommy use words, they're not allowed to use them.
I think he got started with "Oh, my god!", which really annoys me. "Taking the Lord's name in vain" aside, it's one of the most stupid, dingy, vapid things you could say. I remember when NBC started airing Veggie Tales (never watched them on that network) and edited out any reference to God. Seriously, NBC? Why don't you watch your prime time programming and count how many "Oh, my god!" references you air. Double standard morons. It's obviously not the mention of "God" they have trouble with. It's OK as one of the stupidest cuss words known to man.
Our policy worked, and continues to work. Our children know another child who has a truck driver for a dad. I've heard things come out of his mouth that blew me away. Somehow, I hope because of our policy, they've been insulated. They have not attempted to repeat anything he said. They usually seem to look the other way.
We decided to let the children watch Spaceballs. I paused it a couple times to explain the cuss words, and why they can't use them.
We did decide to occasionally allow them to use a few words in the house with us around. They know not to use those words outside of the house. So far, it's worked.
I've been fairly good in my life with keeping my vocabulary clean in situations where those words would not go over well, or would be a poor influence when I'm supposed to be a good influence.
I know some families who are able to keep their children from watching TV, or severely restrict TV watching. That doesn't work for our family. My wife and I both have shows we like, and the kids are always there. I'll let her speak for her own shows, but the kids have been in the room with each of us as we watch our preferred shows.. I tend to avoid shows with gratuitous cussing, but some "damn" and "hell" are unavoidable in many cases. Also in some cases, slang terms for anatomy have become mainstream. They're going to show up.
I don't mind it if it serves somewhat of a purpose. When it's just there for the sake of being there, I get annoyed. In Transformers 2, the mom got stoned and ran around campus repeating the S word over and over again. That served no purpose. It annoyed me. It's like the director and writers said "You know what would be funny? A middle aged-woman stoned, staggering around campus saying the S word". It served no purpose for the story, and would not be missed. It was also a surprise to many, since Transformers 1 was hailed as "family friendly". A lot of families went to see the second installment expecting the same thing. Hah. I knew ahead of time it wouldn't be, and the producers were expecting it to surprise people. I didn't mention it to my wife for some reason.
I don't remember ever having trouble with Joshua's language. Caleb, on the other hand, knows how to push the limits. He loves shows like "America's Funniest Videos" and "TruTV Presents World's Dumbest". His current favorite is "Wipeout", which is a true family show and we don't have to worry about language. Just people landing on their faces while the hosts make fun of them.
In the beginning, whenever I heard Caleb utter an improper word, I started asking him if he ever heard me say that word. He would say no. I then set the policy that if they don't hear myself or mommy use words, they're not allowed to use them.
I think he got started with "Oh, my god!", which really annoys me. "Taking the Lord's name in vain" aside, it's one of the most stupid, dingy, vapid things you could say. I remember when NBC started airing Veggie Tales (never watched them on that network) and edited out any reference to God. Seriously, NBC? Why don't you watch your prime time programming and count how many "Oh, my god!" references you air. Double standard morons. It's obviously not the mention of "God" they have trouble with. It's OK as one of the stupidest cuss words known to man.
Our policy worked, and continues to work. Our children know another child who has a truck driver for a dad. I've heard things come out of his mouth that blew me away. Somehow, I hope because of our policy, they've been insulated. They have not attempted to repeat anything he said. They usually seem to look the other way.
We decided to let the children watch Spaceballs. I paused it a couple times to explain the cuss words, and why they can't use them.
We did decide to occasionally allow them to use a few words in the house with us around. They know not to use those words outside of the house. So far, it's worked.
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