DEAR ABBY: I am worried about our little ones who hear bad language on a daily basis. How is that going to go over when they reach school age?
I'll give you an example. My 3-year-old great-grandson called his mother a "dork." When I commented that he must have learned that at child care, she said, "No, he heard it from me." I was appalled.
Then there was the adorable, precocious 2-year-old who said, "Oh, #@*%!" when I dropped something. I looked at her grandmother, who informed me that the little girl hears it from her other grandma all the time.
How can the parents of these precious little children allow this to happen? How do you think it will go over when they call their teacher a "dork" or use expletives in the classroom and on the playground? -- RED-FACED GRAMMA, McHENRY, ILL.
DEAR GRAMMA: For better or worse, children model their behavior on what they hear at home. You can't blame children for not knowing what they haven't been taught. But I can tell you this, no teachers worth their salt will allow a student to be disrespectful in the classroom and let it go. And the person who will suffer is the student.