Generally, swearing is never allowed in school. So after one U.K. mom made a sudden outburst at a teacher, all parents were been banned from entering the premises.
The incident took place at Ebbsfleet Academy, in Kent, England, BBC reports. A recording of an anonymous mom reveals her swearing profusely at school staff while trying to take her child out of detention. The school has deemed the mother’s outburst “violent and abusive.”
But the mother wasn’t the only parent to demonstrate this kind of inappropriate behaviour. According to Kent Online, there has been a “small minority of parents” who has caused problems with school staff in the past, resulting in the ban.
Parents are no longer allowed to enter school grounds unless they have an appointment. Ebbsfleet Academy’s principal, Alison Colwell, says this is to ensure the safety of all students.
“The students don't deserve to witness that, to hear that. My staff don't deserve to be subject to that,” Colwell told BBC. “All of the people that work here are totally committed. As part of your working life to have to take that level of abuse is just unacceptable.”
Just last year, a similar incident occurred at another school in Kent, U.K. Eythorne Elvington Community Primary School banned parents from smoking and swearing on school property after a number of students complained about their behaviour.
“The students don't deserve to witness that, to hear that. My staff don't deserve to be subject to that.”
“The children at the school have a strong sense of what is right and what's not right,” Principal Liz Bird told the Daily Mail. “With the parents seeing it is the children who have brought it up, it's going to have more of an impact than the school saying it.”
Nonetheless, parents were still outraged by the ban.
While cursing in front of children is generally deemed inappropriate, psychologist and swearing expert Dr. Timothy Jay says it’s not necessarily a bad thing to curse in front of our kids.
“I think it's part of them learning about their emotions and emotional expression and how their parents handle emotion,” Jay says. “So I think if you look at it as just part of being angry or frustrated or happy or surprised, that is all normal. That's built into all of us.”
However, he strongly believes it is the parent’s duty to teach children when it is and isn’t appropriate to swear.
If you fear your kid’s potty mouth is getting out of hand, check out parenting expert Alyson Schafer’s advice on how to get them to stop.
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