Would you confront a stranger in public who swore in front of your children?

[Jenna2212]

Picture the scene, you're in a cafeteria, you've treated the children to a cake each. They're playing and you're enjoying a latte. A woman at the adjacent table swears "the film I saw last night was sh**". She says this within obvious earshot of your children.

I've had experiences like this often. I will always confront the person who is swearing and tell them to stop and have respect for others around them, including my children. I don't want my children to grow up thinking that the use of words like that is normal or acceptable, especially in public places.

It's something that seems to have gotten worse in recent years. I was in WH Smith a couple of months ago and I heard staff telling a customer who was arguing with them to "f* o**". They said this loudly, so everyone in the store could hear, including me. Thankfully, I didn't have my children with me on this occasion. It used to be rare to hear people swear, and if they ever did, it was usually in hushed tones or perhaps a rowdy licenced bar on a Friday night. Shop workers certainly didn't do it on the shop floor.

It's sad that society has declined to such levels where swearing in public has become common.

Would you confront someone who was swearing in front of your children and request them to stop? Vote in the poll below and have your say.

I don't think that saying a film is shit is swearing - more a critique?

Not swearing, and not for kids, but for me. Relaxing in a pool on holiday and some ‘lads’ were in the pool. One in particular was regaling us about his conquest the night before in vile, mysoginistic language. I just stood up, went over to them and said that I realised that they were having a good time but I really didn’t want to hear the language they were using. They apologised and shut up.

Why is what rude? It’s just a contraction of ‘what did you say’ surely?
I was told to say what not pardon - what am I seeking forgiveness for? that’s how it was explained to me.
I don’t generally tell children to say what though as it goes against the grain for so many.

Toilet, like serviette, is anti French word sentiment.

Yes. I did it today in fact. "Please don't talk like that, I have children with me."

I have used "the look" on the bus with my kids once. Used to be a mid day supervisor, and 2 of the 4 teens recognised me.

"stop swearin' mate, "Mrs Beyond" don't like it"

"Cheers lads"

But those words are normal and acceptable. The world isn’t built around your kids 🤷‍♀️

How ridiculous 😂

I think the OP and her DC have time-travelled from 1955.

Why do you think it's your entitled place to police what other adults are doing, just because you have your precious skids with you.

Jesus wept.
I would've told you to fuck off, loudly so your brood heard.

Like fuck I would.
In all seriousness, if someone next to me was swearing every other word, I'd probably just move, as my DC don't need to be wrapped in cotton wool, but they don't want to be chomping cake and hearing "fuck" and "cunt" every few words.

Maybe you could try teaching your children not to listen to other people's conversations.

I’ve asked people not to swear in front of my kids when my kids were younger. I would ask them if they could do me a favour and not swear in front the kids. So it was very much a request and done politely and I was friendly when I did it even if I thought the people swearing were being obnoxious. It pretty always worked but maybe because I didn’t bother asking some people as they looked too aggressive.

Gotten is not a word, at least not in the English language

It kind of is.

Got vs. gotten
People in the United States and Canada use gotten for the past participle of got in most cases, but in English-speaking countries outside of the U.S. and Canada people typically use got.
Both got and gotten existed as far back as Middle English. English speakers in North America preserved gotten as the past participle of get. Outside of North America, the shortened version became standard.

It is a word in the English language, but most commonly in the English variant used in North America.

Wouldn't bother me unless DC metioned it and even then I would just say, "they've said a swear word, we don't say those words." End of.

Nope. They're just words.

My kids hear me swear so I'd be a hypocrite to tell anyone else off for it.

Is this a joke?

Don’t be silly.
There is more than one form of English you know.

They will hear a lot lot worse at school…

THIS

I was just going to say similar

They’ll hear a lot worse in school! It’s ok to know ‘swear’ words but it’s more important to know when and where they can be used. Problem nowadays is that people use it in every sentence when it’s not necessary. I use them myself but usually when I’m cross or trying to make an angry point 😆 trust me, by the time your kids hit the end of juniors, they’ll know more words than adults!

You were in a public place, keep your children at home if you don't want them hearing profanities

No. Apart from being a precious sore arse, all you’re doing is drawing your children’s attention to the swearing, particularly if they are very young and have no idea what it means.

Ye, my kids hear them daily from me. It's just a word. It is normal these days to use swear words as words of expression. Its bizarre you think you can keep kids from ever being exposed to them and equally weird to be so offended by a word.