Foul Mouthed Two Year Old!

what worked for me was to give it very little attention....when my daughter used a word I didn't like I told her it was an adult word and left it at that....basically no response from me = no thrill in using the word

I know I shouldn't laugh but it is kinda funny! My son who is three just went through the same thing. I had the unfortunate experience of stubbing my toe and uttering "ah... S>*(!" My 3 year old wouldn't stop saying it. At first I ignored him then one day I told him that the s... word wasn't really funny. Then I said "know what's a REALLY funny word? snickers! He had a good laugh and now walks around saying ahhhh snickers! I make sure I laugh when he says it so he gets the attention as if he had said a bad word. Now it's fizzled out and no more swear words. Hope this helps! Good luck!

Wow~ I can understand this as this is serious! As you have tried the rest... Have you tried ignoring him during his tirade? I have ignored my son during his tantrums and found that this helps.

Or, have another grown-up teach him new words to use? Our kids are so much smarter than we give them credit for, and if we introduce the correct words to use when we are upset, maybe it can help to wash away the 'bad words'?

good luck!

I'd say you've definitely overreacted, and your son has found a way to get lots of attention, even though it's negative. I don't know who cares for him when you're at school but perhaps he hears these words there as well. Lighten up! I think you can extinguish this behavior. Stay positive, give him lots of love and positive attention. State your rules about this clearly when it occurs and drop it! Ignore it for the most part. I'd remove all punishment. He's still a baby in so many ways. You've gone way overboard on this one!

Dear R., It sounds like you have been misinformed about parenting issues in your background. I also was raised with the practice of soap and hot sauce. These tactics add fuel to the fire, because not only do they give attention to negative behavior, but you are destroying any trust there is between you and your child. Do you want you son to obey you because he fears you? Or would you rather he do it out of respect for you? Respect is earned, not freely given. My advice is to seek out your psycology professors for advice on better parenting stratagies. Read the book "Nanny 911" and "Making children mind without losing yours". Niko at 2 1/2 is not capable of leading your relationship with him, this falls on you. As you change, so will he. Good luck.

I know the feeling. My son is now past that stage of his life but I did find it difficult to handle. All you can do is be consistent. Maybe even putting a "rule" on the fridge and making him a part of that process and then letting him know that if he breaks this rule then, for example, he will get a 2 minute time out. I found that time outs do not work unless they are completely isolated and given the time to think about their actions but at the same time it can be a little difficult for a 2 year old that's why I believe that giving the child 1 minute for every year that they are old. What I do even with my 10 year old is they have to take a dining room chair and face it towards the wall and sit there and do nothing at all. That is their time to think about what they did wrong.
Maybe making him a part of the rule making and the punishment that goes along with it might help. I hope that this helps. I know that it can be embarrassing and frustrating.

Ok I agree with ignoring it method I have 2 sons 8 years apart and I had 2 step daughters in the middle of the boys. My oldest start swaring around 2 1/2. The first time I heard any of the words I just told him it wasn't a nice word then I would ignore them when ever he said them it took one week the same with my youngest if you do not get upset about it or react in any way they go away. My step daughters well that was another story the youngest went on for 3 months with one word at her home why because as her sister said mom got really upset about it everytime she said it. I even ended up getting a phone call asking what I did to get it to stop at my house. She only said it a couple of times at my house. The same process has worked for my sisters and my friends who have tried it. Yes it can be embaressing for you in public and you may get some funny looks but remember if you do not respond anyone who has gone through this will understand. It takes longer for the word to go away if you correct them a second or third time. Make sure also that daycare providers and family members know what you are doing and ask them to handle it the same way.

make sure no one laughs at him when he does it, i know thats hard because sometimes it can be a little funny. also just ignore him he gets your attention when he does it and he likes it.

I hadd that problem also and what I did was when he did it I just told him that wasn;t a nice thing to say and that he shouldn't do it. He kept doing then I just got tired and I gave him a whooping and I have n ot had the problem since. He if here's someone ( me included) He now says "Don't say that!" Some people don't like to give there children whooping but sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

My son is 3 and unfortunately my DH has a hard time watching his language so our son learns all sorts of colorful words. I have found that if I don't react at all when he says these things, and just act like they are normal words he rarely uses them. Sometimes I will give him a different word to use instead if its something I hear him say more than once. I know for sure if I made a big deal about it or tried to punish him for it he would just keep doing it. It's worth a try, good luck!

My 3 1/2 year old has a habit of repeating EVERYTHING so when she came home from Grandma's with the s*** word in hand, we would turn to her, tell her that it is a not an appropriate word and it's not polite. We then told her to go sit in the corner and we would get her when it was time. After a couple of times if ignoring her (even when she was screaming in the corner) she quit using the word. In our case, one of the most important things was not laughing, or getting mad, but just being very serious about what we were doing. I've had friends that replace swear words with other words, and that works well too.

The only thing I have found to work is redirection. Stop reacting to him, it will take the excitement out of the bad word. Ignore him when he does it if he is trying to communicate with you. Simply tell him that you can't understand him when he uses words like that. I have even gone so far as to give my 4 year old a list of words that are ok to use...and most of them are way funnier to a kid! He sometimes even comes up to me and asks me to remind him of the words that are okay. Your kids don't know that the words are bad until you react...and they know how bad the words are by the level of your reaction.

Also, I have to note that nobody can judge your parenting style! You are the mommy and your kids are not, period. There is a whole generation of moms out there now who are afraid to tell their kids "no" for fear of doing some sort of "damage" to them....puhleeze! It is much more harmful to neglect to teach them how to be child, teenager, grownup, etc.

~L.

Make sure that no one else around him is using these words. Try just talking, not yelling when you hear him say a bad word. Teach him appropriate "bad" phrases to say, like instead of the s**t word, say shoot! Explain to him that these are very bad words and are very hurtful and mean to use. Believe me, even at that age, they understand.
Good Luck!

My daughter did something similar when she was about the same age. It was only one bad word, but she shockingly used it correctly. I tried ignoring it at first, but that didn't work. So then I got a bit creative. When my daughter was playing nearby, but we weren't actually interacting--like maybe I was cooking or cleaning. I would purposely drop something, or pretend I'd stubbed my toe, and say "blast it!" in a loud, angry tone. Sure enough, after doing this a few random times, she dropped the curse word and started imitating me, saying "blast it," instead.

Good luck!

My idea for this situation is to definitely set up a disciplinary chart. If they do it once, give them a warning, if the problem continues-take away their favorite snack or thing to do. Last but not least, send them to their room and tell them they cannot come out until they can respect you and their siblings. Good luck and hope it works!

As you probably know from your psych classes, using bad language like that is something kids do to get attention. Don't over-react. Explain to your child that anytime he uses those words from now on, he will be removed from the situation. When it happens at home, calmly pick him up and take him to his room. Set a timer and leave him there for 3 - 5 minutes. Then, without being upset, explain to him that this is what will happen every time you hear him use that kind of word. Consistency is SO important. You absolutely must follow-up every time. This will be very inconvenient at times for you. You may need to leave a cart full of groceries at the store if your child does this. You may have to leave the mall or a friend's house to take your child to the car. Bring a book and sit in the car with him and read. Do not respond to your child during his "punishment". Then take him back in to wherever you are after you've spent had your time out and tell him, again calmly, that this is what will happen every time you hear him use that kind of word. Eventually he will realize that he is not getting the response he wants and will stop using it for that.