From Toddlers to Truck Drivers: Why Are Kids Swearing So Young?

Posted October 14, 2010

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Posted Friday October 15, 2010 by Jackie Morgan MacDougall

I remember when my son was two, I found him mimicking my phone behavior, perfectly capturing the tone I would take when catching up with my girlfriend back east. It was at that moment I realized that I better choose my words carefully because what goes in those tiny ears can come out of very big mouths. You'd think by two years later, I would've learned. It was a perfectly quiet (and rare, if you must know) church moment when he dropped his first appropriately-placed "Damn it." Mortified, I spent the next 30 minutes pretending I had lost something under the pew. Certainly not my proudest parenting moment.

However, It seems I'm not alone. A recent Time Magazine article reports on new research that shows there's been a substantial increase in kids who curse, some as young as 2-years-old. What the (bleep!) According to reseacher Timothy Jay, swearing "really takes off" between ages three and four, saying, "By the time kids go to school now, they're saying all the words that we try to protect them from on television."

But before you go pointing the finger at the occasional questionable parent, there are other foul-mouthed influences our there, you know. Take TV, for example. I feel more comfortable turning to old standards like America's Funniest Videos over the snarky cartoons on today. Have you ever heard how nasty those animated kids can be to each other, slinging insults and telling each other to shut up?

A few weeks back, before the new TV season premiered, I found myself watching the pilot episode of the trainwreck "sitcom" Melissa and Joey. It's true. [However if you tell anyone, I will deny it until the day I die.] Guessing its placement on ABC Family meant it was for the recent Hannah Montana graduate, I was a little curious.

OMG, people.

I grew up with seven brothers and can say I'm pretty comfortable with strong language. But a joke that was made, not once but TWICE, referencing a very strong slang term for a part of female anatomy, I thought I was being punked. I thought ABC Family was supposed to be kid-friendly, not direct competition for the latest HBO comedy.

Are we in the middle of a bad language free for all?

It's on the playground... For parents like Tim, that can be most frustrating. "We are VERY good at not swearing in front of [the kids]. But they end up coming home from school with a new one every week."

And at the mall... Danika says, "One of my biggest pet-peeves is being out and about and having people streaming expletives in casual conversation, being completely unconscious of who is listening.

And in the preschool class... Andrea reveals, "The other day I received a note from the school saying Sean said (bleep). I don't have cable and certainly don't talk about (bleep), so unless the Thomas DVD got unedited, he learned it on the playground. Its a lot of conversation as to why we can't say certain things and how to act like a respectful person. Seems like it will constantly be an uphill battle.

But does swearing really hurt anyone? A study released last year showed that swearing is actually is beneficial, crediting curse words for improving pain and increasing pain threshold. Does that mean we should let the curse words rip?

Where do you stand when it comes to cussing in front of kids?

Curb the Cussing

Does Your Child Have a Potty Mouth

The Art of Swearing

Jackie Morgan MacDougall is a TV-executive turned parenting blogger who lives a crazy life with her husband and three small kids. Her dreams of climbing the corporate ladder have been replaced by the dream of one day having a nap. You can find more of her musings at The Silver Whining.

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