. Before we read the book we were given a little quiz about curse words and we were told that if we were offended by all curse words we could read another novel (I think we were offered something with ten thousand pages). No one opted out because we were 17 and 18 and could handle curse words.Then the books were handed out and the absurdity began. Someone had gone through the class set of books with a sharpie and marked out all the curse words (well most of them). Really? The curse words were so harmful to us that they had to be marked out. This made the book less enjoyable to read and when reading out loud we all guessed at the words that were blacked out. We were old enough to go to R rated movies and most of us were old enough to buy porn (we read it in the late spring) but we couldn't read a novel without the curse words being censored?
A year ago I was substituting in a middle school English class and I saw a child reading black hawk down. Again someone had gone through and marked out all the curse words in pencil. When I asked him why he said it was so he could read it in school. Now this book a very difficult very violent and emotional true story that I would agree should be given to kids based on their ability to handle the content. But are the curse words what was controversial in the book? No! If a child is mature enough to handle the content in a book like that then they can handle characters that curse.
Why are curse words so scary? Why is mentioning them in a review is a waste of time?
First lets talk about why we discourage cursing in schools and at home. Is it because cursing is harmful? No. We don't curse because it's bad manners to curse. Because it's unprofessional and rude and a habit we don't want our kids to pick up. We make an extra effort not to curse around small children because we don't want them to repeat these words. However, once our kids hit school age it's assumed that they have the maturity not to repeat these words and to know that they're "bad."
How does this relate to curse words in books?
Once kids are old enough to read books that have curse words in them we as adults must realize that they're old enough and mature enough to not repeat them. To forbid a child from reading a book for language reasons only is to not respect their ability to handle a few simple words and understand that seeing them in print doesn't make them suddenly acceptable to say at school or at home. Authors frequently will use these words to demonstrate that a character is bad or destructive which generally proves the point that you've taught them of how cursing makes you appear to others.
What should I say if my child points out a bad word in a book or mentions that one of the characters curses a lot?
I'd talk to them about why the character said the word. How it made the character appear and then reenforce your values. But really this is small stuff. A word or two in a children's book or even a character that curses like a sailor in YA book isn't going to effect your child at all and can be a learning opportunity.
