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Preschooler Swearing
January 24, 2012
Just as a tree without roots is dead, a people without history or culture also become a dead people.
-Malcolm X
-Malcolm X
"The show's theme already has critics at the anti-indecency Parents Television Council grumbling, but researchers who study cursing find that, believe it or not, 2 years is about the age when kids really start to use 'adult' language.
"'Yes, 2-year-olds say f---,' said Timothy Jay, a psychologist who studies psycholinguistics and obscenities at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. 'Preschoolers are pretty well versed in the lexicon, and by 11 to 12, we are looking at adult swearing patterns. Kids say swear words as soon as they talk.'
"Jay and his colleagues have a dataset stretching back into the 1970s of words that school teachers, day care workers, and other adults who work with children report hearing. Kids mimic words early on and pick up quickly on which words are 'bad,' even if they don't know the exact definitions of those words, Jay said.
"In fact, studies suggest that swearing is firmly embedded in the brain. Swearing is a form of 'formulaic language,' said Diana Van Lancker Sidtis, a professor of communicative sciences and disorders at New York University. These are expressions such as 'You bet!' that frequently appear in conversation, and kids learn them as they're learning how to piece together sentences."
One of the challenges of working with young children is finding ways of working effectively with their families. In How Does it Feel? Child Care from Families' Perspectives, author Anne Stonehouse challenges the reader to look at situations in an early childhood program from families’ perspectives. Encouraging programs to move beyond traditional parent and family involvement, this recently updated version of the book contains insights on what it takes to create and maintain effective partnerships that benefit young children the most. ExchangeEveryDay
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Comments (12)
Displaying 5 of 12 Comments [ View all ]Early Childhhod Mental Health Consultant
United States
As people who care about the treatment and emotional health of children, most of us understand the developmental inevitability of learned, offensive words issuing from the mouths of babes. We also strive to model rich, culturally familiar language that always avoids the use of offensive or hurtful words.
The real issue here is that it seems as though someone taught or encouraged a two year old "actor" to use an adult word that he doesn't understand as a joke to entertain. Very young children in entertainment may often get a very distorted undsertanding of what is or is not acceptable to say or do. Audience members seem to react to the impact on adult senstivities and not the impact of the entertainment industry on the children involved.
Thunderbird Preschool
Crystal Lake, Illinois 60014, United States
I remember reading many years ago that visitors to foreign countries pick up the swear words, because of the inflections and exclamations that often accompany the swear words being used. I would imagine similarly this is
why these words catch young children's attention as well.
McKenzie, TN, United States
Of course children will say swear words if they hear them. If you don't want children to swear, declare their environments no swear zones. Turn the television off! Writers are looking for laughs, ratings and money. Obviously they are not advocates for children.
Tender Tracks Tales and Trails
Fairfax, ca, United States
About preschool swearing. I have worked with preschoolers for 17 years and, though yes they are in the stage of "potty talk" the only way they use true swear words is if they HEAR them spoken. They get the inflection down perfectly because children imitate. They rarely know exactly what it means only what it feels like when they hear it, feel it and see it being used. To accept this as"just normal" is an excuse. If you don't want to have or hear preschoolers swear, don't use the words around them!
self
United States
when i was a child my mother would say some interesting words in french when she was mad. by the time i was about 6 i had the accent down and exploded at a sister with "emutadsi salveamahd!" (spelled phonetically). My mother burst out of the house scolding me for talking like that. I told her that those words are what she said when SHE is mad, and I was mad! She was very sheepish and explained that it was not okay to say it and she would not say it any more....then told me what i had said.....'god damn it all to hell'. I had no idea what i was saying.....neither do our toddlers and preschoolers today. they get the inflection and they get a nice response. it is as simple as that. and they will NOT say words they have not HEARD !
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