The "F-U" word....not in my home....but it's happened and believe me, my boys got an ear full of my rage!...I see it all the time among teens everywhere I go, even the grocery store....
I/ve always grounded my boys for infractions such as this, and taken away things they enjoy playing with (electronics, guitar, etc.), for several weeks, even more....
Raising teenagers, hearing or deaf...is not an easy job.....and we can only do the best we can do.
in this day and age of "F U" being such a common place exchange of insult, so crude and vulgar *excuse me Mimsy lol* and in the age where media's rating is somewhat a cultural scoreboard if you will, like the more swearing in British fillms have for insults, the "better it is" (and we know its not true) and on the other side of the Alantic, the swearing is seen more about "right timing to threat" or proof of victory, american onel-linears is not subtle, and oftentimes it just to add colour to an otherwise really boring story. British films, by contrast is the culture of oppression and depression, whereas the America film is the culture of denial and justice. Ask yourself this, how often do you see British films depicts glorious cop action? you never do, im not sure why, maybe its the regulation over there which prevents it from being released into the media??
just my observation.
now back to swearing...
on raising teenagers i think its a good idea to ask why, do they want to swear, and its a good idea to explain the "F U" is really a mark of defeat from society's set-up that constricted your freedom to a 'better life', you see. people got miserable, in a similar way to the British reactons to the stifled materialist access which manifesated from cultural oppression, and at same time 'Its fashionable' to say F U because media have depicted this tactic to seem very successful, to which in a way TV/movies 'promises' the audience if they 'say this in the right time' the triumph will come their way' yes ridiculous, and it IS ridiculous...
my own idea of all this is, like people are unhappy, bored so when ann unfavourable situation arise, - automatic response to utter "F U" is somewhat used to gain power.
and to add to the insult from the media to audience,
media 'have won' to dumb down people even more...dumbing down people to use less imagination is also about robbing their potential to be better than they are now, so hence it keeps people chasing their own tails by removing the focus on moving up, but to utter insults for sake of coping with 'not being able to move' in society.
its bad, and its very like a mass social death. F U seems alive on screen this is because it is placed to fit in an more interesting story (of the film) whereas in real life, nothing is interesting, so using colourful language is 'thought to make life more interesting.
(akhem sorry if some of you might disagree but restrain yourself here, im only phrasing this to make a point)
anyway so before I stop now, the whole point of this post is, to say not only you have to challenge the young ones on the use of colourful words, but also i think youd have more success if you can provide a perspective on why people use it so often and why its 'popular', to give them something to think about...and you wont win them over straight away...its alot like catching them smoking and that one lecture isnt going to stop them...educating and challenges takes time but do it good, and cool BE a FRIEND (punishment might not be working, try something different for once or twice then revert back) see what happens...dont ignore it though, ..hmmm id let ya think of something different to do than snatching toys off, like be more influential, as it might do more...
...get a different kind of respect...the one that they will see you as freind than enemy...and will follow you more...
, and I noticed it in some of your posts, so you win the prize. But it's ok, because it isn't a sin.