Swear Words

I'd love to gather some thoughts about swear words. How do you teach them to your children? Or, perhaps I should ask the question in a different way. Do you explicitly present a list of swear words and say "Thou shalt not say this word. Ever"? Perhaps you focus more on what kind of words your family do say.

Sometimes a little swear word here and there is kind of funny, especially if it comes unexpectedly. I guess this post is a "there"

My third grader wrote this story - isn't she sweet?

 but honestly I have tried to be explicit with my children. When they've asked me about a specific word, I will repeat the word and tell them it is a swear word. I don't usually say something like "the s word" because that is confusing. There are many "s" words.

Long ago, I established some "strong" words in my family that I'd prefer my children not use. For right now, these strong words are brought up far more often than actual swear words (hate, stupid, shut-up). When I say "brought up" I don't mean that my children go around the house saying strong words thus earning punishment of some sort. I just mean that they will ask me about strong words.

My children do hear the Lord's name taken in vain very often and this is something that I struggle with as far as teaching them to be a good example, yet allowing others to be themselves, especially when "others" are not just peers but often adults. A few weeks ago, while at a school science fair, I heard one of my kindergartener's peer (Gus) correct his friend. The conversation went something like this: (after the friend took the Lord's name in vain) Gus: you just swore. Friend: no I didn't. Gus: yes you did. I don't think Gus thought this at the time, but I sure thought, "Wow, that took some guts."

I hope my children will feel comfortable coming to me or another trusted adult with questions about words they hear (or any language, questionable stories -- this week my children learned what "vulgar" means). And, I hope when they do come to me, I can respond calmly and with clarity explain why we have the standard in our house to use clean language (and what clean language is) but just because that is our standard, doesn't mean others have the same standard. Our Heavenly Father loves all people.