Parents Talk: How Do I Curb a Potty Mouth?
In this week's installment of Parents Talk, we ask how do you refrain from swearing in front of your kids and how do you get them to stop once they start using a bad word?
Parents Talk will be a weekly feature on Patch where we reach out to those moms, dads, grandparents, etc. looking for a resources and information (or maybe just a sounding board) to talk about parenting. We invite and encourage you to tell your friends about Parents Talk, too. After all, we can’t build a community without your help. Contribute your ideas, questions, anecdotes and advice to other parents in your hometown.
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We encourage you to join the discussion. Tell us what you think about this week's topic in the comments section below.
This week's topic:
I had the funniest conversation with a friend last week about swearing in front of our kids. After a brief, "hi," and "how are you?" at the grocery store, I noticed that three of the fingers on her right hand were splinted and taped. Of course, I had to ask what happened. She said as she was getting her two kids out of the back seat of the car, her coat sleeve got caught up somehow and she slammed her fingers in the car door.
Apparently, in the seconds following, she dropped the "F bomb" with the kids within earshot. Her 4 year-old son quickly picked up on it and now thinks it's the funniest word he's ever heard, repeating it whenever chance allows.
So the question arose, how in the world do you curb a potty mouth? It's one thing to change your ways as a parent and use words like, "shoot," "darn," or "fudge" when you're frustrated, it's a whole other ballgame to get a child to stop cussing, especially when the word is so much fun for them to say.
What would you do? Join the discussion and leave your comments in the section below. We would love to hear from you!
What do you think? Tell us in the comments and feel free to write a letter to the editor by sending it to ryan.smith@patch.com. Please keep it under 500 words, include your name and city of residence.
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Any tried and true tips that work in your house?
Tell us in the comments.
Virginia Jackson
4:40 pm on Thursday, January 26, 2012
Children learn what they hear and see.How did you learn things? Think about when you were FIRST learning how to do many things, the basics, talk, dress and feed yourself. Who was around the most and who did you look to the most. Of course your parents or primary caregiver. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure these things out.............or does it?
Ryan Smith
11:10 am on Friday, January 27, 2012
One wouldn't think it required a rocket scientist, but you have a great point, Virginia. I've known many people, who were otherwise good parents, who just couldn't seem to curb their language around their kids. Granted, it's easy to slip up; when you've dropped a hammer on your foot, it's tough to remember to say something like, "Darn it all to heck!" But small children are information sponges, and they don't have filters in place to discriminate between good and bad language yet.
jim
1:46 am on Monday, November 5, 2012
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