Help me make my kid stop saying these things!

[sisu]

Any thoughts on how to discourage an (almost) 3 year old from saying certain words/phrases?

DS has picked up some unsavory language lately and my head is about to explode from hearing these things come out of his sweet little face.

So far we've mostly ignored it in hopes that the novelty would wear off, but that's not working. So.... suggestions?

[Teddyandnick]

DS1 has been doing this too. It's not bad, he is only saying stupidhead. I just don't like it. I have explained to him that other kids in his preschool may say that but it is not nice and I don't want him using it. He knows he is not supposed to say it, so if he does he gets a time out. Luckily he hasn't pushed the issue much further. Sorry you are having to deal with this too! I think it is their age too, they are testing their boundaries. DS1 is very good at picking up emotions even if nothing is said, so he knows this is a way to aggravate me.

[momma@2]

My DD hasn't said many inappropriate things but when it does come up she responds well to "that isn't being kind". I know it seems "flowery" but her sitter has done a great job with the kids teaching them to be kind to one another and helping them understand that it isn't a very good feeling when other are not kind to them.....so she undertands that not acting kind or saying something unkind can be hurtful.

[Rhianna'sMommy]

For all 3 of mine I've always just said 'I don't like that word and we don't use it in this house'. No one has ever questioned it, oddly enough and didn't keep saying it. The only one we actually had to discuss was dd1 started saying God a lot in K and we had to explain that it hurts Gods feelings to use his name like that and to please say gosh instead. Once she knew our reasoning and was given a substitute word she stopped using it.

My kids might be in the minority in being so easy to stop using certain words. I could see some personalities using it more just to annoy you. I don't have a good answer for those personalities.

[l_Kimmie_l]

I have a very strong willed 3 yr old and all I have to say is tell him what he can say instead of what not to say. It usually works. We also ignore if he keeps doing it.

[wordbox]

Ugh, mine is doing it as well. (2 1/2 years old)

[HeatherlovesCDs]

We are having an issue with my 5 year old and saying some inappropriate phrases. I do the above mentioned, "We don't say that in our house, yadda, yadda." That isn't working for this issue this time. So, now, he gets time out every time he says something like that. I make him do his time out right next to me so I can hear/see everything he says. It seems to be helping. I am fully prepared to start keeping him home from things if he doesn't stop it because the things he is saying not at all okay. But, mine is older than yours and definitely knows better.

[sisu]

I think maybe we'll try time outs. I haven't yet because I feel bad, I don't think he really understands why he can't say certain things. On the other hand, today when we were checking at the grocery store he told the clerk "You are being an ahh-hole" - it was mortifying. (Many thanks to the old lady in the fabric store who introduced that charming phrase into his vocabulary).

[bluedaisyma]

Originally Posted by MarchMama2010 I think maybe we'll try time outs. I haven't yet because I feel bad, I don't think he really understands why he can't say certain things. On the other hand, today when we were checking at the grocery store he told the clerk "You are being an ahh-hole" - it was mortifying. (Many thanks to the old lady in the fabric store who introduced that charming phrase into his vocabulary).

Oh my 2 1/2 yr old loves that word . My dh has a mouth on him and will also have stuff on the tv that the little shouldn't hear. So, in addition to washing dh's mouth out with soap (jk), I am working with ds. It's hard at this age bc if you overreact he will amp it up, and he doesn't fully understand. I have taken to calmly isolating him for a min (taking him to the stairs- he can still see everyone- and telling him he has to sit there if he is going to talk like that). Sometimes successful, sometimes not.

[JennTheMomma]

ds1 went through that phase. I would just tell him that that is not a good word to use, and use x word instead. I also told him that we shouldn't say that word otherwise we couldn't visit Grandma (which is true because she does daycare and you can't be saying swear words).