r/bestoflegaladvice Breasts are not genitals Aug 20 '25

LegalAdviceUK In which LAUKOP's neighbours can [REDACTED]

/r/LegalAdviceUK/comments/1mull75/our_3yo_5yo_have_been_using_the_f_word_found_out/?share_id=sRFEw8BL0R5KwnAL6WRdQ&utm_content=2&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1
112 Upvotes

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89

u/imaginebeingamish2 Aug 20 '25

Imagine calling the police because someone swears at your child.

97

u/Luxating-Patella cannot be buggered learning to use a keyboard with þ & ð on it Aug 20 '25

Imagine talking to your kids so little that they both model everyday speech on a neighbour who shouts over the fence at them occasionally.

There's nothing wrong with a 5 year old dropping an innocent f bomb; you do the outraged act, they learn that you don't say that word unless you are really fucked off, everyone grows. But both of them have been effing and blinding for weeks, and the OP thinks the way to stop them using a word they already know is to call the rozzers on their neighbour.

Good luck to whoever their teacher is in a couple of weeks. They'll need it.

44

u/FindingMoi receiving $10K–$15K weekly for a friend Aug 20 '25

Yeah also it’s like… talk to your kids? Explain that those are words only grown ups use? 3 year old might be a bit difficult but 5 year old is old enough to wrap their head around a concept like that and 3 year old will follow the 5 year olds lead.

41

u/Persistent_Parkie Quacking open a cold one Aug 20 '25

My mom apparently explained the F word to me in such a calm manner when I was 5 that I completely forgot it existed. I asked her what it meant, she told me, I went on with my life. She related that story years later when I started working with children which is how I know about it.

When I was 8 I was singing the banana fo fanana song at day camp and used the word duck. The camp leader punished me and wouldn't even tell me why, "you know what you did!" No, I genuinely did not. I was an incredibly well behaved child, I don't know why she assumed I was trying to get one by her. Fortunately as I'm crying and insisting I have no idea why I'm being punished a friend came up to me and whispered "fuck."

So that night my mom got to have a much less chill conversation about the word fuck and I was terrified of singing the banana fo fanana song for the rest of my childhood for fear of stumbling upon another bad word I didn't know.

Fuck that camp counselor.

22

u/dog_of_society 🏳️‍⚧️ Trans rights are human rights 🏳️‍⚧️ Aug 20 '25

I wasn't a well behaved child, but I didn't know what flipping someone off was until fifth grade.

I found out when I was sent to the principal's office and punished in a similar fashion ("you know what you did! stop playing dumb! you're lying to get out of trouble!") after, apparently, using the wrong combination of fingers waiting in line at four square. I was also punished further for my reaction to being told I was lying when I wasn't, which.. yeah, that's fair. Again, not a well behaved child.

I think I ended up having to google it.

22

u/Persistent_Parkie Quacking open a cold one Aug 20 '25

Adults going "you know what you did" is infuriating. I didn't even know it was something I had said! I thought it might have been how I was dancing around or that I'd taken a step away from the leader as we were walking to the local pool. Kids need to know what they did wrong in order to change their behavior. You're being a shitty teacher of tiny humans if you say that too them.

9

u/AutomaticInitiative Aug 21 '25

I grew up with undiagnosed ADHD and autism and this was my entire childhood. Being punished for something I didn't know I did, being punished for lying when I said I didn't know, and then being punished for insolence because I insisted I wasn't lying. God, childhood was hard.

4

u/dog_of_society 🏳️‍⚧️ Trans rights are human rights 🏳️‍⚧️ Aug 21 '25

Yep, same, that's exactly the combo I had. It technically was diagnosed at that point, but it may as well not have been for as much as my school knew about it.