We spend a good bit of time at skateparks. We have spent time at at least two dozen parks across the country. Some big, some small, some low-budget, some funded by celebrities or athletes. A lot of the kids are poor, a lot are rich kids. Wherever there is a park, there are kids who pick up their skateboards and head over. We have met such great kids at skateparks and have always enjoyed the sport itself.
Although the kids are diverse, although the neighborhoods are diverse, there seems to be a common thread.
The language.
I am not talking about dropping a few choice words on a well-chosen occasion. I am talking about the f-bomb being littered throughout every breath, every sentence, every thought. I am talking about such foul language that it made my skin crawl.
I don't know. Maybe I'm just getting old.
I don't think so though. (Well, not that I'm not getting old, but that I don't think it is bothering me just because of that...)
What bothers me is the boldness with which this language is used. I just assumed (pre skatepark life) that most people would tend to 'watch' their language around kids or, at least, around a mom.
It's just bugging me. When the boys were little, it was easy to walk up to someone and say, "Hey, my children are here. Would you mind watching your language around them." Usually people would apologize and comply. But at the skatepark tonight, we were clearly the minority. It wasn't as if I could yell across the entire skatepark, nor do I think that would be the best approach anyway. It's not even just the 'bad words'. It's the comments they yell, stuff about sucking this or f'ing that. It's disturbing and it is really bugging me.
Any thoughts?
4 comments:
Hard to manage someone else's kids. What do your boys say? Does it bother them? Maybe they should approach the fellow skaters to maybe watched what they say? That is a hard way to protect your kids when it is something they love to do.
Since moving into this neighborhood where there are a gazillion kids, I must admit I am appalled at some of the behavior. Some of these kids walk around and cuss, some call their parents and/or siblings names, and some are just downright spawns of the devil I am certain. It has been a huge adjustment, and my kids notice the behavior that I don't think is appropriate and we talk about it. If kids are in my yard acting this way, they will be asked to shape up or ship out it is that simple. We do not talk like that or treat each other with disrespect and I will not put up with it. Other than that, there is not much I can do. My children know what is right and what isn't and as long as they have those values that I have instilled, I believe they will not be wrongly affected by such behavior. But it is something we talk about on a weekly, if not daily basis, especially during the summer. And it is my belief that as long as they don't see their parents modeling such behavior, they are not likely to pick it up.
maybe figure out when there's a 'downtime'at a particular park and go then? i agree that it sucks... when i used to shop at skating shops in so cal i ran into this A LOT and beign female... yeah. it was offensive the things they would come up with.
I don't go to many skateparks but I believe it. Last time I was at the one in Delhi there was some choice language going on and I told them to tone down the language because I had small kids with me. It worked and the did but that only worked because it was a small crowd.
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