What would you have done?

Last Thursday the weather was great. It was in the 60s and a big rain storm was promised to come after it, so Oliver and I decided to take advantage of the respite and go to the park. It was 4:00pm and the park was semi-packed, not only with kids, but with teenagers. And one of them was sitting on top of Oliver's beloved train playground equipment. Oliver was not deterred, however, and began to climb in and through the train, yelling, "Train, train!" which in turn, made the teen get off and continue his phone call. He talked to his friends about something he "hated the most," it being people who were two-faced. He then went on to say, that what he hated more than that was "people who are, like, eight-faced." Ahhh, this was classic 7th grade talk and our day at the park was proving to be more than I had anticipated.

Little kids played on the slide, ran up the stairs, and made friends with a golden retriever out on a walk with it's owner. After a bit, we moved over to the swings right across from the basketball court where some 15-year-olds were hanging out. One was playing basketball. Three others sat on a bench using the f word every 10 seconds. And they were yelling. I gave their cussing escapade a chance to settle down. They were talking about grades and one was explaining how he was okay with a 2.0. But then they moved onto making jokes and general teenage angst lameness and the language continued at stadium-cheering decibel levels.

What would you have done?

Without really thinking I shouted out, above their volume, "Stop swearing with all these kids around. Thanks!" And it wasn't a "thanks" coated with niceness, it was stern and to the point. There were a couple guffaws from the teens but they stopped. Ten minutes later (Oliver was still on the swing) and I heard a couple swears come from the courts but they were quiet and not loud enough for the kids to hear. I had made my point and I was glad it worked.