

Fuck That Shitty Coloring Book—On kids and swearing. - pazz
https://medium.com/p/79b2e17fa1c7

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gte910h
[http://scienceblogs.com/neurophilosophy/2009/07/13/swearing-...](http://scienceblogs.com/neurophilosophy/2009/07/13/swearing-
increases-pain-tolerance/)

It could be making their life actively worse

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Teckla
Thanks for posting this. I wish it had gotten more up-votes.

This whole "some words are BAD" thing is ridiculous. I allow my child to
swear, but of course, with a warning that some adults will take offense,
because those adults are overly sensitive about silly things. So my child
knows what to avoid around those silly people, but that it's okay around me.

I teach my child that words are tools, and tools are not inherently bad, but
we may use them in a bad way. Similar to steak knifes, which are neutral
tools, and can be used by people for good or evil.

I cringe every time I hear a parent tell their children that a word is bad.

In the end, my child doesn't swear any more or less than any other child of
the same age. Interesting, that.

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animus9
One might wonder why it is that we have higher standards for our children than
for ourselves. Maybe it's because they are born with a kind of innocence that
we do not want to see corrupted. Maybe instead of lowering our standards for
our kids we should actually set a good example and live up to the same
standards we expect of them.

(Imagine if we did this with respect to all things that we try to hide from
our children.)

I have heard all the arguments in favour of swearing and I used to believe
them: I no longer do. The problem with swearing is that it becomes an
unchecked impulse of aggression -- and eventually a habit that is very hard to
break. The least that could be said is that it degrades the quality and
content of speech to the point where some people become nearly unintelligible.
What do we gain by introducing unnecessary chaos into the ordered system of
communication?

Let us look above, not below, for our moral standards.

