Cursing Isn't For the Young at Heart

Have you ever said a curse word as an adult and had people stare at you like you just committed murder? I certainly have. I was this many days old when I realized that my parents still aren’t comfortable with me cursing. I mean if I was 4 or maybe even 14, I could understand the odd looks, but at the ripe old age of 28, I think I have lived enough life to have earned the right to say whatever I damn well please. Now that is not to say that every adult has to populate their vocabulary with “sentence enhancers”, but it does mean that if they want to, no one has the right to judge them for it. It also leads to the question, how old is old enough to curse without judgement? I mean if a parent was allowing their preteen child to run around saying f**k every third word, one may start to wonder if that child needed some intervening. However, I think there also needs to be a social contract with every parent and child that when that child reaches a certain age, they should be allowed to start peppering in a few curse words if the moment seems right. Because let’s be honest, if you are in your 30’s and you bang your knee on a just slightly too long coffee table and the first thing out of your mouth is “Oh fiddlesticks”, I am definitely going to wonder if you’re sane. In a situation like that, I should want to cover the younger people’s ears, not laugh at your mild expression of pain. And I think that is the main problem with my relationship with my parents. That social contract was never established. We never really talked about cursing. When I was child, my parents told me that those words were off limits and I shouldn’t say them at all. That was it. There was never a moment where my ma and pa said, “Son, you are 21 now and we are going to take you for your first drink and a good cursing.” I had been cursing to myself and my close friends for years before my parents heard my first curse. So, in my mind, because those people were okay with it, I thought my parents would be. That is not say they aren’t okay with it; I just think it took them by surprise. So, to all those parents out there, with children of any age, just like a sex talk, let’s establish an age where if your child wishes to become the sailor that many adults do, they know that you fully approve. Or establish a contract that you don’t curse, so they don’t curse, at least in front of you. But that is just one man’s opinion. Thanks for listening to me ramble. I appreciate it. See you next time.