swearing....

[rummum]

Son is 7 and in year 3, has just called daughter a c**t.... after I picked myself up off the floor I asked him to repeat what he had said. I had heard him correctly... I asked him where he had heard the word, and he said from a year 5 boy.... I asked if he knew what it meant and obviously he didn't, but daughter aged 9 said it was the worst swear word ever!!!!
I have told son not to use this word again, and especially words that he doesn't know what they mean......

So do I tell the school what their year 5 are saying or is this the norm.....

Thank god my in-laws weren't here...

There was a recent thread on the Times Education website on the worst thing a child has ever said to a teacher. A recpetion teacher posted that she had been called a 'Stupid Cunt' by a child in recpetion

bump..........
maybe I'm old fashioned...
what would you do...

It's truly awful, but really what is there to do? The school can only police swearing in the classroom in reality. I think you just hammer home that it's not nice language, that it doesn't make him look good if he uses it...etc.

FWIW, I am in my 40s and went to a catholic primary school and in my first class (as a 4yo) can clearly remember hearing a child tell the teacher to f* off.

So it's not necessarily a sign of the times even.

My mum has been a dinner lady at the same school for 24 years and she is forever telling me about the foul language. My dd1 goes to the same school and I know of several boys in her class who swear in nearly every sentence but only down to the fact their parents swear.
DH was brought up to speak and act however he wanted and as such it took along time to stop him from swearing at home and now he despises it.

just to let you know... it's about the norm I think.

I got called in to see the Headmistress when DS1 was in year 5. He had been swearing in the playground. Blimming footie! He is, by all accounts, a nice boy... but they are growing and learning to handle themselves and frustration and sometimes it all comes out.

Swearing is everywhere! Films, tv, friends, friends parents etc. We don't swear in front of the children and yet they still pick it up.

It's a phase I think, for those who's parents pick up on it and talk about it to the kids. That said, whilst I have never heard my son swear since, I couldn't honestly say that he hasn't. He knows how I feel on the subject. And if he's anything like me I won't hear it again. I never swear in front of my mother and I'm a grown woman!!!!!!!!!!!

Was with my sister and her kids the other day - 9 and 11. The 11 year old called 9 year old a bastard when he took her seat. My sister took her into another room and give her a real telling off. Don't think she'll be using that word again in a hurry. We know they know all these words it's all just about reinforcing that they shouldn't use them. I swore like a trooper when I was in secondary school but never in front of my mum!!