My DD is the sweetest little girl. Well mannered, always remembers please and thank you etc. She started school last September and all was well until around February of this year. She started answering back, refusing to do as she was asked, generally being a bit of a madam! Some of the things that she was saying were clearly things that she had picked up from other children in the playground; nothing outrageous, just words and phrases that, until then, had been unknown to her. On one occasion, my DDIL stopped DGD and asked her what *** the offending word/phrase meant. DGD looked rather taken aback and admitted that she didn't know, but "little Johnny or whoever said it". Obviously, explanations of what it meant and why it was not a nice thing to say and the repercussions of repeating it were given pdq.
Young children are like sponges; they soak up everything around them, both good and bad. It's the way they learn about life in general. This isn't a result of poor parenting and certainly not a reflection of what goes on in the home. They see and hear so much more when they go to school and witness other ways of behaving; other ways of speaking. The only time that "poor parenting" comes into it, is when the child isn't corrected and gently put back on the right path. And, for the record, the phrase that my DGD used has never been used in their home.
