My 2 Yr Old Thinks It Is Funny to Say "Oh My God!"

Ignoring it has always worked for me. Whenever my children have said anything/words I don't approve of, I try really hard to have no reaction at all. When we make a big deal out of something like that they learn that it will get a reaction/attention and do it when they want that from you.

At this point, since you have scolded him for saying it, I would warn him that if he says it again he'll have a time out and then no matter where you happen to be if he says it no more warnings-just an immediate time out.

Good luck!

I thought I was the only one with a 2 1/2 y.o. that said that, LOL! I constantly remind him not to say that, it's not nice to say. He thinks it 's funny and will do it, sometimes the same day or the next. This has been going on for about 2-3 weeks now. I too have threatened with time-outs, but I guess the only thing you can do is be consistent and remind him it's not nice to say.

When my son started this, I told him it made my ears hurt and pretended to cry. Then I asked him to say Oh my gosh. Everytime I heard god, I would cover my ears and begin to whimper. He got the message and now corrects TV characters when he hears them say it.

ive found that the best way to handle this is to not react or show emotion, because at this age, your right they dont understand and they think its funny that your showing a big reaction TO what they've said. instead when he says something nice like thank you or i love you make a big deal out of it, he'll say it all the more!

God is not actually the Lord's name, it's like mom, or dad, or brother, its a description, but its not His NAME, which shouldnt be taken in vain and is so rarely used nowadays because people used to take that very seriously. If it makes you uncomfortable though, try ignoring it and I bet it will stop. Remember God is a loving God, and Jesus loves the little children. If anything, He probably gets a giggle out of it.

Hi J.,

Oh, your little one probably heard "Oh my God" at the daycare and it just takes one time and they can mimic it for quite awhile.

I'm a Christian, a pastor's wife and a mother of ten children -- 25 down to 4. So we've had our rounds with words that weren't good to repeat in a swearing or ill-meaninged way.
Since you've tried verbally to correct it and your son doesn't understand...maybe just the attention he's gotten causes him to continue saying it. So I'd just not comment for a week or so...when he gets no reaction either positive or negative thus no extra attention; maybe he'll just drop it because it's not generating anything from anyone any more.

Plus, singing good Christian songs to or with him, playing good children's Christian cassettes or CD's can put things more in perspective and within one or two playings he'll pickup the words himself more and more. It's important in the long haul to get him into a good Gospel-preaching church...not some denomination that preaches good-works saves you or baptism saves you or things that Jesus didn't teach. Good old John 3:16 is a long verse, but kids learn it when it's repeated and explained to them...if you'd like to see what I consider the best explanation of how a person becomes a Christian. My husband wrote a tract on what Jesus said in John 3:3 "Except a man be born again, he CANNOT see the kingdom of God." That tells me it's important to know what He meant by being born again...anyway my husband explains it well in our church website at www.gospelcenter.us and click on "Born Again" on the top right hand cornered area for the full tract.

Don't you think someone who is a Christian (which is what you become when you're Born Again) but so many say they are but have no interest in gathering regularly with believers in a local church, or reading/studying their Bible to know the Lord better and better (like we know people via their letters to us many times). Truly spiritual life puts desires in a person for these things....to be spiritually dead is seen when there's no desire for any Bible influences on a regular basis. Yet so many say they are Christians, but never gather with believers, read their BIble, pray, etc. I'm concerned....had an excellent message on "false gospels" by my husband's preacher friend this past Tuesday night at our regular weeknight Bible study in our church. If you'd like a copy, I can send you one...interested?

B. in Eau Claire, WI

My advice would be to very calmly and flatly say "in our family we say" then will excitment "oh my stars (or cookies or big birds"), something silly that he can relate too. If you say it calmly every time and then say no more hopefully after a day or too he will have adopted the more acceptable phrase.It's more important and effective to let kids know what they can do rather than what they can't do. HTH H.

I agree with a lot of mom's here... I have a four year old and he's always saying things that are out of line. I first started teaching him when he was about 2 years old that some words were bad to say. Like, stupid, or shut up. I don't cuss at all either, so he doesn't hear those words at all. But the simple words can be a little hard on your ears coming from your child too. My son started saying "Oh my God" too at one point and what you gotta do is, give him something else to say. I like "Oh my Goodness!" "Gosh" isn't clear enough sometimes. My husband still tries to correct him, by just saying "Don't say that!" but I try to help him by telling my son what to say instead. My son is now talking back by saying "OKAY OKAY!!!" When being told to do something, and I stress to him to say "Yes, Ma'am" or "Yes, Sir" instead. He's getting it, slowly but surely. So maybe have other people he associates with practice this too with him. Your parents or aunts and uncles. Have a great Halloween and God Bless you and your son!

My 3 and 6 year old went through that phase as well. What I did and seemed to work and be funny at the same time was correct them by saying how about "oh, my hotdog, or oh, my ice cream with cherries on top or oh, my Elmo etc. It seemed to redirect their thoughts. We had fun trying to be creative with our words.

J.-

Sorry to say I don't have any good advice for you on this, however just wanted to say that I think that the fact that he is now confused about if it's okay to say "God" at all... that would be troubling to me as a mom. My daughter is not verbal yet, so haven't dealt with that yet. I think the challenge would be to get a child to understand something as abstract as "God" to begin with, just like love, kindness, anger, etc. You are the expert on your child - do you think it would work to say something like: God is a special person who loves you, just like Mommy, and you want to be nice to Mommy and not yell at her and make her feel bad. When you say something like "oh my god", it is like yelling at God and makes him feel bad, so that's why we don't do it. I don't know, does your child even understand "God" yet, or would this type of logic work for him? Or still too advanced? Whatever you decide, best of luck to you!

This is always a tough on if you are a christian as I am and sounds like you are as well. Over-reaction is not good but I don't think it can be ignored either and the confusion it has created for him is typical. If your son doesn't say prayeers yet, it would be a good time to teach about prayer and praying and why it is good to praise and use God's name but unless we are praising (singing, learning etc) we need to be careful. I'd try to focus on the respect aspect (we don't call our friends names because it hurts their feelings; we don't hit because it hurts our friends) and try that approach. Let me know how it goes - my 2 1/2 year old had a problem with an innappropriate word and this is how we solved it but every kid is different...

I remember when my little guy started saying it too. We made a big deal at first about it and gave him choices to say other things like....goodness, golly gee, we even made up funny words so that it would sound better than the other. One day we were in Target and I remember him saying it and then I warned him not to say it again or we would leave. He did and we left (under major protest as you can imagine). I'm not sure I would do that again as in hind sight it now seems a bit too much. I think what eventually did work was that my husband and I just lightened up about it....ignored it and it did go away. Hang in there....they will get it eventually.

when my son was three everything was "poopy" -not a word we like to hear all the time. i tried everything-even threatened to use hot sauce. i finally just started to ignor him when he said it. and after a short time he just stopped saying it. so try not to let him know you are bothered by him saying certain words and he'll stop saying them!! good luck!!!!!!!

I know what you are saying! My son (also 2 1/2) was saying "Jesus Christ" for no apparent reason. He is also in daycare. I have a hunch it may be from there. I hate to believe it though. At first I did all the things you did. But that just seemed to make it worse. He liked that I got all riled up about it. So I simply started ignoring him. It went away completely within a few days! Hope this helps! Good luck!

J. -
My son is 4 and he's also had this problem in the past. Everytime he'd say this we'd get real serious and say - "we don't say that...we say oh my goodness". Eventually he stopped and now says oh my goodness...he thinks it's hilarious. Not sure if that will help for you....but it worked for us. :)

J.

my daughter went through the same thing we told her it wasn't really a bad thing to say but that some people don't like it so she shouldn't say it anymore. that worked for her

I had the exact same issue, except one worse... he was mimicking a neighbor who slipped and so "oh f*&^bg God!" Sooo much fun... not. Anyway, we ended up simple saying "oh my world!" for a few weeks and never responding to his little outburst and rewarding his younger sister when she tried to copy us. Pretty soon it was "oh my world" and then soon after that he just dropped it altogether anyway.