Is Swearing a Problem?

Hint to stop a swearing problem: We have been facing a swearing problem with the newest member of our family. While in is relatively minor, it is definitively a problem. He has gotten in trouble at school for it, at sports activities, and at home. There is certainly no filter of what may be ok with one of the boys and how you speak to an adult. And he is very frustrated that we think swearing is a problem. He often wants to bait us into debating the rudeness of specific words. So the new phrase that has entered our home is “word choice – what would be a better word choice?” While at first he rolled his eyes, the rest of the family has really gotten into this and has started coming up with funny alternatives. For example, instead of the adding an expletive the end of a sentence, one could add “Oh, peanut butter and jelly”. We have also revived old phrases like “Oh, Jiminy”, “Gosh”, and “Goodness gracious”. Of course, we have also learned that it is not so much the words that you use, but how you use the words that really make something a swear.