Poll of the Day > How come adults are "allowed" to swear, but not kids?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Is swearing really that different coming from a younger mouth?

I guess the logic is that if you teach kids swears are okay, they'll start swearing at inappropriate times, but a bunch of the adults I know do it at inappropriate times too

Somethin about innocence and letting the word have power
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I see it less so of being "allowed" to it than and more so of knowing when not to do it.
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I think context matters. Saying life is a bitch is different than calling someone a bitch.

Because no one gives a shit about you when you are an adult.
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lol
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Because adults don't have parents and teachers to tell them not to? >_> idk, the social acceptance of swearing is probably roughly the same at all ages, but adults feel more confident to butt in when it's kids doing it.
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Only when you know all of the rules can you break them

Because as a parent its your job to attempt to craft a proper adult, and self-restraint is one of the hardest things to learn in life. Learning to think before you speak, and to not have emotional outbursts are important social skills, despite what adults do all day on the internet.
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Kigalas posted...

Because as a parent its your job to attempt to craft a proper adult, and self-restraint is one of the hardest things to learn in life. Learning to think before you speak, and to not have emotional outbursts are important social skills, despite what adults do all day on the internet.

Yet those same parents swear.
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Because it's not kosher to tell an adult what not to do, unless they're some combination of straight, white, and/or cisgendered male.

HillChange posted...

Because it's not kosher to tell an adult what not to do, unless they're some combination of straight, white, and/or cisgendered male.

Cool. Really interesting point and very necessary to the topic at hand

Revelation34 posted...

Kigalas posted...

Because as a parent its your job to attempt to craft a proper adult, and self-restraint is one of the hardest things to learn in life. Learning to think before you speak, and to not have emotional outbursts are important social skills, despite what adults do all day on the internet.

Yet those same parents swear.

Kigalas does have some good points. I personally feel it isn't about swearing or not swearing but knowing when not to do it. That's not to suggest all adults have that impulse control but rather we try and get kids to develop that control as well. Of course nobody's perfect and we may slip here or there.
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Revelation34 posted...

Kigalas posted...

Because as a parent its your job to attempt to craft a proper adult, and self-restraint is one of the hardest things to learn in life. Learning to think before you speak, and to not have emotional outbursts are important social skills, despite what adults do all day on the internet.

Yet those same parents swear.

Yes, I can swear like a sailor, but my son is 4 so I know not to swear at home unless hes sleeping or is on a different floor of the house. Adults have earned the right - theyve been around the block enough, especially parents.
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Revelation34 posted...

Kigalas posted...

Because as a parent its your job to attempt to craft a proper adult, and self-restraint is one of the hardest things to learn in life. Learning to think before you speak, and to not have emotional outbursts are important social skills, despite what adults do all day on the internet.

Yet those same parents swear.

There are a *lot* of freedoms which parents make use of -- drinking, smoking, sex, recreational drugs, pornography, etc -- that they forbid their kids to do the same. While a parent who swears openly in front of a child then complains when the kid cusses is a hypocrite, there's a necessary double-standard when it comes to parenting.
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Not all people are like that. In fact, the only people I've heard tell a kid not to swear also did not ever swear in the presence of a child. My parents never swore when my sisters and I were growing up, and as a result, I don't swear at all, my two sisters, while they swear, they pretty much only do so in the presence of their friends.

Many people I knew growing up were the same, in that for at least preadolescent, they didn't really swear because their parents didn't swear.

Similar things go for things like sex, drinking, and smoking. My sister started smoking before she was 18, and I don't think my parents ever batted an eye because my mom did too. We were allowed to drink before were 18 too, as long as it was under our parents supervision. Similarly, as long as we practiced safe sex, they didn't care. (Not that I ever had the chance, but the option was there.)
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I agree that it's important in the sense of teaching kids general social standards. I mostly just wanted to make a joke about how immature some adults still are. But also, I don't really think swearing by kids is that big of a deal. Almost every adult swears, so I'm not really sure what effect instructing kids has in the long run. They should do some studies on this. Maybe kids who get reprimanded a lot end up swearing more since it could turn into a habit when they hit their rebellious phase.

I don't think swearing in front of kids is a huge deal, assuming you're doing it do other adults and the kid is old enough to have a concept of "bad" words and is past the age where they blindly repeat things they hear other people say. That being said, I try to avoid swearing around other people's kids, don't know how I'd be if I had my own. Also, people who swear when speaking directly to their children make me cringe a bit, but moreso because they seem like the type of people who are abusive than because they are teaching them bad words