Bad Words

This phrase has always bothered me. Lots of kids go around saying “Oooh, you said a bad word.”  What ignorant parent teaches their kids to say these things?

Certainly some words are more incendiary than others ( like this, or this).  I have arrived at the conclusion that words are either appropriate at a given time or not, but sometimes you must use the more colorful words in the dictionary to make your point.  

We have always let our kids listen to just about any music they want to.  My daughter, for some reason, has taken a liking to hip-hop and rap.  I have a feeling I had something to do with this.  In any case, there are plenty of words in these lyrics that she is simply not allowed to say.  It’s not because they are “bad”, but rather they are inappropriate for someone at her station in life.  Obviously, there are some words that are never appropriate.

We make it a point to make a very clear distinction about this with our kids.  They have heard me say just about every word there is to say at one point or another, whether in a moment of anger or disgust or just in the course of a day.  I am not proud of it, but I also realize that it happens.  I am not going to dwell on it.  I don’t think anyone should.

If you have kids, or even if you don’t, how do you handle the lessons around language and words?