General Chat

My son who's 8 and wouldn't swear (even if you paid him) was in the car with mum the other day when another car pulled right out in fron of her and she swore, then quickly said sorry to my son. who casually replied 'that's ok my mum swears all the time i'm used to it'. cheek. lol Nicky.x

I usually ignore the bad behaviour and reward the good, by giving any attention to 'swearing' is still rewarding him with your attention, might take abit of time to sink in but it will eventally, the best method is to take a favourite thing away everytime they swear or send them to bed early and keep it quick with as less talking as possible......makes them think about what they ve done, I would sit him down first and explain that from now on every time he says 'that' word which is a 'disgusting' word that he will have something taken away or out of his room or that he ll miss his fav programme etc, always ask if they ve understood what you ve just said. Good luck.

My two hear my shouting my 'swear' word. 'Oh for fff......five pence'!!!! and coppy that! If they do say anything they shouldn't, I tell them it is not nice and I am ignoring them now. All kids try it on don't they? At least mine do! Claire xx

Our eldest's first word were oh s**t, he's 16 now and wouldn't dare swear in front of me. I presume they do it at school, but I've warned him I never want to hear it and he respects that. The funniest and also most embarrasing moment was when he was about 3 and a policeman smilled at him sat there in his buggy .... my little darling smiled sweetly back at him pointed and said ' fascist opressor' I could have killed my hubby!! Needless to say we made a hurried departure. XX Sioux :~D

What a nightmare! Lots of great advice already given, I particularly like ideas of making words seem really bad 'make it sound like a bad word, but use a nice word like' bother' and less offensive words like this. Kids listen to our toning, (not what we say but, how we say it.) Children are incredibly sharp. I have a four year old who acts like a 24 year old. She challenges me if I'm sharp or stroppy to someone else, she'll say ' Mummy, you're being rude, or you're being mean!!!' If I'm telling her off she listens and says 'sorry Mum, I won't ever do it again!' the sincerity is so humbling, she's taught me SO much about how agressive I am, and how being nicer really does work...if you're sincere. Still working on that one!

Sioux You really made me laugh! I think a substitute word is good. When my son was little and lost his temper he used to show me how angry he was by slapping the floor and blowing raspberries. It was so funny but I did understand what he was trying to communicate as best as he could at the time! They are such good mimics aren't they Emma? It is only when they echo it back at you, you realise how you sound! Abigail

Probably in this day and age I would be had up for cruelty but some 40 years ago my daughter picked up the expression - 'little bitch' from the little girl next door - I ignored it - it continued - I said it wasn't nice - it continued. The one day I grabbed a bar of soap and just stuck the end of it on her tongue and told her I would do that each time she said the nasty thing. IT WORKED! I must also say that at this time there was absolutely no swearing in our house at all - I hadn't learned to - have since! Ann

Ann Dont you worry at all.... LOL.... My mum did the same thing to me on my 8th birthday and I have never been able to use sheild since!! Apart from that it didnt do me any harm though... I still swore though but always made sure mum didnt hear me ... LOL Shaz xx