I Swear

If you had asked me as a young man, to complete a questionnaire about what type of father I would one day become, I am sure I would have ticked "NO" on the question: "Do you expect to swear in front of your children".

Turns out I would have been way wrong on that.

I am not a fan of unnecessary profanity, or of using curse words as filler to round out an inadequate vocabulary.  But there are times, for purposes of style or emphasis, that the taboo of a curse-word absolutely strikes the right effect.

Now don't get me wrong;  I am not proud that I swear in front my children.  In fact, this year I made my first ever New Year's resolution as an effort to curb the habit.  However, it was after holding back for several weeks that I first noticed the amazing therapeutic effect of a good, profanity-laced outburst.

I was happy to read a recent article in Scientific American noting that many leading researchers have concluded that swearing has many benefits, and should be encouraged in certain circumstances.  Although they did not explicitly identify "parenting" as one of those circumstances, I am sure that was just an oversight.

Damn authors probably have no kids.