Child Behavior: Dealing With Swearing
Learn how to deal with swearing in children.
Curses! Your kid's started swearing and you're not sure what to do! Here are some simple steps to take to cut out the cursing!
report abuse- Pretend the swearing didn't happen, so you're not giving your kid a payoff for swearing in the form of a reaction from Mom or Dad.
- Give your kid some alternate, non-naughty choices like "Oh man!" to take the place of the curse words.
- Curb your own cursing, if you've got a bit of a potty mouth yourself.
- Keep your kid's friends clean, too. Let playmates know that swearing isn't welcome in your home.
- Pick your battles. You'll have to decide what's "officially" a swear word in your house. Do "oh shoot!" or "that sucks" count, for instance? Or are they off limits, too?
- Try not to cringe or be too embarrassed if your little one picks up a potty word. Swearing in toddlers may only be intelligible to you—strangers might not even realize your kid is cursing.
- Finally, if the cursing continues, you may need to institute some form of punishment to make it clear you mean business.
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