Swearing Toddler????

My 2 1/2 year old son is such a gorgeous little boy, but I am so ashamed at the fact that he has picked up on the F word. It is such an adult word and sounds so disgusting coming from a child so small. I can't blame my DH completely, unfortunately I am also to blame. A few months ago it started with him saying sh*t, we found the best way to stop him from saying it was to simply ignore him when he said it and not make a fuss and tell him off....it worked and he stopped saying it. Unfortunately this technique hasn't worked with the word f*ck. If we tell him off or send him to the naughty corner, he starts to repeat it over and over again. :angry: It is becoming infuriating and extremely frustrating. Any suggestions, advice, ideas :confused: .

I know that you have already tried ignoring it but I would keep it up. As you've seen, when you do punish him for it he only says it more. Don't worry it will pass, he'll find a new word ;)

I agree with Trish. Ignore it and make an effort not to say it yourself or to be around anyone else who may for a little while.

My DD is a little younger but a couple of months ago she was saying sh*t and we found it best to ignore her. If we reacted to it she thought that was wonderful and would say it even more. I don't know that punishing is so effective yet as they really have no understanding of the meaning of the word, or of social niceties yet so it felt kinda pointless to me if she didn't know what she was being punished for.
Anyway we ignored her and it stopped after about a week.

I have found that if you are in the habit of letting an expletive fly (which we all do) on the odd occasion, As well as ignoring them when they say it, also use a made up word instead and soon they will stop using the swear words and say the made up word instead, because they aren't hearing the swear word said IYKWIM?

Good luck though.

Hi,

i think diffrent childern react diffrently to certain things,With DD the opposite actually worked,She heard some people saying ''shut up'' and then decided to repeat it,so first i told her that it was not a nice thing to say and not to say it.The second time she said it i looked at her dad and shook my head and said ''look daddy she said a bad word that only naughty people say'',she just stared at me and got sad.Well she hasnt said it since and a couple of times while im joking around with DH and i say oh shut up,she looks at me sternly and says MUM thats a bad word so i say oh no your right im sorry.
But like i said each kid has their own thing that works on them.So you gotta see what makes him feel bad that he said something bad.And if he does it for attention then the ignoring techniqe might be best..
good luck

Thanks Girls for your imput, I will definately be persisting with this one.

Thanks again....

I've got no advice for you Mummy but OMG I can only imagine the look on your face when that word comes out of his little mouth!!I can vouch for how gorgeous he is everyone LOL!!!

Yeah i agree with the ignoring thing. As long as he knows that it's wrong i would continue to ignore it completely and hopefully he'll realise he won't get any reaction by saying it, get bored and then stop. This was the only thing i could do with my neice that i mind during the week - she had a few shockers she'd come out with!!!!!!! After a few weeks she just gave up. Good luck :)