Summary Of The Article 'Go Ahead, Curse In Front Of Your Kids'

Am I creating a monster? What will become of my child now that I’ve dropped the “f-bomb” after losing connection with our cable company? Am I causing irreversible psychological damage? These are some examples of questions that parents or caregivers may dwell on after reading Benjamin Bergen’s article, “Go Ahead, Curse in Front of Your Kids” published in The Los Angeles Times in 2016. The article specifically addresses the possibility of psychological damage in a household where there is no censorship of vocabulary. Shortly after becoming a father, Benjamin Bergen found himself becoming perturbed that if he continued to casually sprinkle foul language into his vocabulary, his young son was going to suffer unfavorably. He insinuates that his
During his research, Benjamin gathered knowledge about varying theories that suggested that using profanity in the presence of children was detrimental and to my surprise, not all of them were focused on creating a well-mannered child that conforms to the suggested guidelines in their community. He claimed that although no scientist has ever conducted a study where the subjects were children, we can still weigh the risks that come from swearing in front of your child based on results from already existing experimental research orchestrated with college students. The study concluded that slurs (homosexual slurs in this case) were the only palpable bad words evident to have adverse effects on the college students. While slurs were found to have a greater negative impact (increased anxiety, depression, aggression, disconnection from emotions, etc.) there was no evidence that day-to-day swearing could assist in sabotaging a child’s
I am arguing that this notion will undeniably cause persisting damage to a child. I suspect that by minimizing the importance of exhibiting desirable behavior norms, thereby actively impeding the development of interpersonal relationship mastery, we will be providing our children a monumental disservice. By demonstrating the use of profanity in front of our children, and expecting them to decorously construe the idea that there are exclusive environments in which swearing is permitted, we are fostering additional hindrances for them with regards to the healthy evolution of competent communication