Somewhere along the line, I became part of the establishment

[mahogany]

I wasn't a perfect teen - far from it, in fact. I cursed and drank and smoked, and stayed out too late, and snuck into nightclubs. Still, I somehow managed to stay aware of my surroundings. If there were children around, I stopped myself from doing those things. It's a courtesy thing, that seems to be sorely lacking in a lot of people, I've noticed. Today, the dh and I were at the park playing frisbee with the kids, and having a great time. There were other young kids there besides ours. Some teenagers showed up and man-oh-man, was their language ever objectionable. It was the f-bomb, here, and OMFG there, with some dumbasses and shits thrown in for good measure. And it was loud. We left.

So now I'm sitting at home fuming. I feel like I should have said something. Why should we leave because of their bad behaviour. Dh feels like I would have embarrassed the kids (not to mention him, I'm sure) by saying something. I dunno. It just seems pretty backward to me. They should have been the ones having to either A) tone down their language, or B) move somewhere else.

[Poll #1170649]

Comments

[triplep.livejournal.com]

It really depends on the situation. I've turned around at a restaurant and asked a group of grown men to tone it down because I was sitting at a table of mixed kids and mostly moms.

I've also been at a pretty rough urban park, asked kids not to throw bottles at cars and had them threaten to throw said bottles at me for interfering.

So, sometimes, I do a bit of silent fuming. Especially if it seems I'm dealing with kids who are completely oblivious to the idea of respecting others.

I do swear a bit myself (mostly on the road, or if I stub my toes, etc) and Astrid's definitely been known to swear. We've always stressed that while it doesn't particularly bother us, there are places where it is extremely inappropriate and where she will get judged by how she conducts herself. I'm less concerned with 4 letter words than the use of words like "stupid" or "dumb" or words that will hurt feelings.

Actually, over the past six months or so, she has asked her father and myself to tone it down and given suggestions for made up expletives should we feel we really need to use them.

[mahogany.livejournal.com]

I'm less concerned with 4 letter words than the use of words like "stupid" or "dumb" or words that will hurt feelings.

I totally hear you on that one! Also, I think it's immensely neat that Astrid teels you and her dad to tone things down on occassion. She sounds like a pretty cool kid.