The average child hears their mother or father utter six expletives a week with up to 86 per cent saying they felt their parents' swearing as well as the language of celebrities such as Gordon Ramsay and Jonathan Ross set a bad example.

The poll of 3,000 11-year-olds show two out five children were using swear words at an earlier age, admitting to using them in their everyday language because they heard their parents use them.

More than one in three however have asked their parents to stop swearing in front of them with almost half admitting it upset them.

Peter Foot, chairman of the Campaign for Courtesy said: "We need parents to be the ones to put their children right before they ever get to school with 'please' and 'thank yous', rather than leaving it to teachers.

"But this is awful, appalling really. There are some age groups now who can't say a single sentence without the F-word in it."

A spokesman for research site youngpoll.com, which carried out the study, said: "When youngsters hear their parents use swear words so frequently, it's inevitable that they will pick up bad habits.

"Parents should be aware that children are easily influence and will try to replicate what they say whether it's swear words or not.

"When adults hear a young child swear it's very easy to find it humorous, yet any use of bad language should be nipped in the bud at an early age."

This article was copied from churchrelavance.com .