A couple of weeks ago E1 had learned his first "bad" word from school. It wasn't technically a bad word but it was one that I didn't want my kids to be using. So, what was the word? It was "weirdo".
E1 came home and started calling everything weirdo and thought it was funny. We never use that word in our house, so I pulled him aside and asked him where he had heard that word. He said school and he thought it sounded funny. I asked him if he knew what it meant and he said "No". So I explained to him that people use it to call other people that are different or they don't understand and it wasn't nice so I didn't want him to use that word again. We also talked about a Veggie Tale lesson that dealt with people that are different and how we should try to get to know them and be friendly.
I'm happy to say that he understood and haven't used that word again. But it did make me think of other words that our family has deemed "bad". Here are a couple of them and why we don't use them:
1) Stupid --I want the kids to never consider themselves or anyone else stupid . In the future, I'm sure there will be subjects in school where they will not be good at which might be because they lack interest in it or it isn't taught in a way they can understand. But I never want them to think it's because they are "stupid".
2) Ugly--I try my best to avoid using this word to describe anything because I want to do our best early on to build a positive self and body image, especially for our girls. I'll use words like "different" or "unusual" instead.
Are there any words you don't use in your family even if they aren't technically bad words?
Zi
My husband sometimes says "bad" words out of frustration. I'm hoping Baby C doesn't ever pick up on them. But she probably will some day, because she's a little parrot. I agree with you, I don't like the word "stupid" and "ugly". The other two words I don't like are "retarded" and "gay".
ReplyDeleteI agree with the 2 words you don't like either. Good thing they are not part of our vocabulary to begin with.
DeleteGreat points with the 'bad' words, I've never really thought about it. I'm sure when we have kids, we'll be more careful about our vocab. When we are around our niece (she's almost 2 and basically repeats everything), we try to watch what we say.
ReplyDeletexo, Yi-chia
Always Maylee
I never thought too much about this topic before becoming a parent either. So much to think about when you are a parent.
DeleteGood job explaining to E1 *why* the word was unacceptable. That's much more effective than just "don't say it". I agree that "stupid" is a word we don't like to use. And also "shut up". Asking someone to be quiet or quieter is more polite. Sometimes I lose patience with the dogs, so I have to be real careful and tell them to "be quiet" instead of "shut up".
ReplyDeleteSo true about "shut up". Glad that we don't usually use that phrase either but we do need to watch our tone and raising our voices all the time. Sometimes when all 3 kids are just going a bit crazy, it is really hard to keep our emotions in check.
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