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iQuestions Faculty, Ted Baehr 
 
 
Question: 
 
I know my kids hear bad language at school and other places but is 
cursing in a movie more harmful or just part of our current culture? 
 
Answer: 
 
Most parents are concerned with foul language.  
 
There’s a recent article in USA Today that says that the use of foul 
language by kids is increasing.   
 
That said, the LA Times did a study that said that 74% of the young 
women, twelve to twenty-four, do not like foul language. Most children 
don’t like it.  
 
It’s like taking your first cigarette, or whatever else you want to 
engage in, you have to be desensitized to start using those words. 
 
You’ve got to help them to want to use good words, not wanting be 
assaulted by bad ideas. When you explain to them what this foul word 
means, usually they’ll say, “Yuck. I don’t want to deal with this 
anymore.”   
 
Be careful, talk it through with them, and say, “You don’t have to fall 
prey to that type of behavior. Not everybody is doing it. You can live 
your life by being wholesome and good and outstanding.”  
 
The truth of the matter is—having taught thousands of students since 
the seventies—most people want to do the right thing. They’re on your 
side; you just have to encourage the good.  
 
 
 
Remember, you can commend and get more by commending—more 
with honey than you can with vinegar. Try to encourage your children 
to learn to expand their vocabulary.  
 
One of my favorite lines, I think it was in Star Trek IV, when Spock 
goes up to a man who has just used foul words, and I guess Kirk says 
to him “What was that?” he says, “Well, in the twentieth century their 
vocabulary was limited.” 
 
So you don’t want your children’s vocabulary to be limited.  
Baehr -2- 
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