The Three Year Old And His Language

I was sitting at a table in a park doing some writing when I spotted a little boy, who was probably about 3 years old, jump out of a car in the parking lot.  The little boy was followed by his older brother, who was probably about 5 or 6 years old.

The boys ran over to an area where I could see them and hear them while their mom was unloading some things from their car.

The 5 or 6 year old boy was teasing his younger brother—that didn’t surprise me.  That’s fairly normal behavior for brothers.  I still tease my brother, and we’re in our mid-50’s. 

(He almost never chases me around the backyard anymore, though.)

What did surprise me was the language that came out of the little boy.  He used foul words and combinations of foul words—sexually charged combinations—that were stunning to me in terms of their explicitness and vulgarity.

Again, he was probably about 3 years old.

I don’t blame the little boy for the obscene language that he was using, I realize that he was just repeating things that he heard in the environment in which he lives.  But my reaction to what I saw and heard made me extremely sad.  In fact even now, 8 hours later, my heart is still heavy when I think about that little boy.

I’m not perfect and, obviously, I haven’t always said things that I’m proud of, so, I’m not writing this in a self-righteous way.  I mean for this to be a word of encouragement and challenge to myself, as well as anyone else who reads it.  Here is my challenge:  Our little ones are listening and watching and soaking in what we do and say.  Therefore, with God’s help, let’s do our best to let them hear good, positive, lovely, praiseworthy, helpful, admirable words from us.