From day one we talk to our children – right from when they are babies. They adopt and copy what we say and how we say it. Sometimes they don’t always say a word correctly but in time they do. They also learn from their peers, (through unsupervised exposure to television, movies and the internet) new words and language that we are not so comfortable with them using. I am not just talking about swear words but also slang and rude words that does not sit with our values.
Minimise The Use Of Using Rude Words
We are greatly responsible, as parents, for filtering the speech of our children. If we want them to use clean language then we need to be aware of our own language and be good role-models for them. We need to refrain from swearing and using slang. We also need to point out to them the language that we find acceptable and that there are implications to some words used.
You can teach older children the meanings of the words whereas for younger children they just need to know that they are words that are not nice or rude to use and that they can hurt people if they say them. We can say to our younger children, ‘We don’t use those words in our house. If you want to express x you can say this word instead.’
We can also inform them that using such language is disrespectful to the person who is listening to them talk. They don’t want to hear foul language – it can upset them. If your child is consistently talking in slang terms or using foul language within the home, tell them how upsetting it is for you and that if they continue there will be consequences to get them to refrain from doing so.
Finally, we can filter what they are watching on tv and doing on the computer and encourage our children to spend time with those who use clean language. We cannot shelter them from hearing slang or bad language but we can implement the above ideas to reduce the impact of them adopting either.
I am not a fan of slang or bad language. How do you minimise your child using either?
For more reading and information on children’s behaviour take a look at The Parent’s Toolkit.
Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
