"Poo poo, pee pee, bum bum" - What could I do to make them stop?

[Mamasjoy]

My two boys, ages 3 and almost 5, say this several times throughout the day thinking it's the most hilarious thing in the world. It's driving me crazy. I have told them politely to stop and they say, "Sorry mama, we won't say it anymore," and guess what? One minute later it starts all over again. I have threatened to take away their favourite activities (gymnastics, soccer) and it seems to stop temporarily, but starts up a day or two later again.

Should I just ignore it and wait for them to outgrow it?

[LynnS6]

My favorite response to this is to come up with a perfectly acceptable word, and then say "ok, ok, you can say "poo" but don't you DARE say "banana". Then, of course, they say "banana", and I react in mock horror. They do it again, I react in horror again, and voila, it's a lot more fun than the taboo words. This is an idea directly from "Playful Parenting". It works really well.

in fact, my dd came to me tonight and said "Mom, say 'don't say a word' and then I'll say it". She loves it.

[Aubergine68]

Originally Posted by LynnS6

My favorite response to this is to come up with a perfectly acceptable word, and then say "ok, ok, you can say "poo" but don't you DARE say "banana". Then, of course, they say "banana", and I react in mock horror. They do it again, I react in horror again, and voila, it's a lot more fun than the taboo words. This is an idea directly from "Playful Parenting". It works really well.

in fact, my dd came to me tonight and said "Mom, say 'don't say a word' and then I'll say it". She loves it.

Oh, I like this one! Better than the suggestion I was going to post, so I won't bother.

[Sarah_Lee]

I have the same dilemma with my boys ages 2and 5, that is a great suggestion, I am going to try that, thanks for sharing!!

[Sasharna]

DP and I just join in the fun. We also warned DS1 that other adults don't tend to find that humor very funny. He has never done it at school or with relatives. Honestly, our participation in his potty humor sucked the novelty and shock value right out of it pretty quickly.

If you strongly feel that you don't want to hear these words, I guess this approach wouldn't work for your family. Just sharing ours.

When I was teaching preschool, I couldn't just let the kids talk that way since some of the parents would be scandalized, so I used to tell kids they could go stand in the bathroom and talk about bathroom subjects in there. That made them giggle and a few even tried it out. But it got old to them quickly and they stopped.

Good luck, whatever you end up doing!

[Carley]

Originally Posted by Mamasjoy

Should I just ignore it and wait for them to outgrow it?

I think that depends on if they're being rude or not. My daughter loves butt/poop stuff too. When she says it to her dad & me we tell her that's a rude word for booty & not something we want to hear. We tell her if she wants to "talk butt" then she can go to her room and talk butt all she wants, but we don't want to hear about it.

If we're in public I point out other people in the store/whatever & tell her that each person doesn't want to hear her talk about butts (or scream in the store or whatever).

Works well with her, but I don't have two boys feeding off each other

[Just Elsa]

Originally Posted by Mamasjoy

My two boys, ages 3 and almost 5, say this several times throughout the day thinking it's the most hilarious thing in the world. It's driving me crazy. I have told them politely to stop and they say, "Sorry mama, we won't say it anymore," and guess what? One minute later it starts all over again. I have threatened to take away their favourite activities (gymnastics, soccer) and it seems to stop temporarily, but starts up a day or two later again.

Should I just ignore it and wait for them to outgrow it?

Well... why is it a problem? Just because it's irritating? In that case I'd try ignoring it so it loses novelty and if you just can't take it, tell them they can only do it in their room with the door closed. To me this behavior, while obnoxious, isn't really *bad*. I'd just let them know I choose not to listen to it. It's a good lesson in, "your rights stop where mine begin."

[River's mum]

nak

love the pp playful parenting approach!

[meemee]

first it is an age apporpriate thing. that takes a while to outgrow. some dont outgrow.

i hear it from the first graders still. my dd still does it and so does her bf - though not that much.

with censorship you have to watch it. kinda balance it. for some reason the kids were able to work out where it was appropriate to say and where not.

but i think they do need the outlet somewhere. for instance for both my dd and her bf - both their dad's dont allow this kind of talk, but we mothers let them. yet we reign them in when it gets out of hand.

that kind of talk has really brought out the creativity in the kids so i dont stop them. neither do i encourage them.

i also have noticed with my dd the more i pay attention to it, the more she does it. i also think some kids need to express that side of them more than others.

right now at 6 my dd has learnt the formal words for those words and now she is learning words from different languages and we found that the word pee in one language is the exact word for milk in another.

[bendingbirch]

I love the suggestions you got, including ignoring if at all possible, and reacting with humor if you have to react....
It truly does seem to be just a developmental thing. I wrote some more suggestions I collected from mothers here on this post:
http://theparentingpassageway.com/20...mall-children/

Hope that helps,

[Norasmomma]

I think it's just a kid thing-although my DH still says gross stuff sometimes, but then again so do I. My DD is almost 3 and she always is asking," Mama do you like...(poop, pee, boogers, etc)?" It's a kid developmental thing. I have learned that I can't really let it bug me, the more I do the more she does it.

[Eman'smom]

I like the suggestions so far.


For us I tell them those are bathroom words so if you want to say them you can go into the bathroom and say them all you want but they aren't acceptable in the kitchen (living room whatever).

[Just Elsa]

Originally Posted by Eman'smom

I like the suggestions so far.


For us I tell them those are bathroom words so if you want to say them you can go into the bathroom and say them all you want but they aren't acceptable in the kitchen (living room whatever).

I like this!

[tbone_kneegrabber]

So i have seen several threads about this issue recently and it has made me think about it. Talk of bodily functions doesn't bother me, and ds is only 21 months now anyway.

However, I know that everyone I know irl talks about their kids bodily functions in public. If I am playground and some kid poops in their diaper, the mom will say "oh you stink did you poop? Let me check. Yep you pooped. you need to be changed" etc. If a kid goes to the potty the exchange may be "do you need to go potty? Will you try to pee/poop?" then they may come out and be proud "so and so pooped on the potty!"

So its like its okay for grown ups to talk about it, and we talk about it a lot (i have overheard countless potty learning stories at the park) but then the kids do the same thing and they are being "rude."

I just think reevaluating why its an issue is important and where they learned it and where they "learned it." I think it is also people feel like once you are potty learned you no longer are suppose to discuss your pooping and peeing or just pooping and peeing in general, but while potty learning it the MOST IMPORTANT conversation your parents have with you ALL DAY LONG. So we put a lot of value on "potty talk" first positively (learning to control one's bowels) and then negatively (learning to control one's mouth)

wow that was a long post! sorry!

[broodymama]

Great suggestions so far! My 4.5 year old DS and 2.5 year old DD1 are doing this right now, so I'm going to try the Playful Parenting approach. In fact, right now they're jumping around the living room chanting "Remember that thing that came from a poot?" The only time it bothers me is during meals, so I am reminding them that I don't want bathroom talk at the table.

[Mamasjoy]

Wow, great responses. Thank-you so much! The Playful Parenting approach is my favourite (I will be trying it asap!), but there are numerous other valuable suggestions. Thinking about how/where kids "learn" this talk is also pretty interesting.

Thanks for sharing!

[labdogs42]

I need to remember to use that Playful Parenting approach with my DS. I actually don't mind the potty talk so much, it is for when he starts saying "stupid" and "idiot" that I need to do it! I tell him that potty talk can be funny at home, but some people don't want to hear that kind of talk. He seems to understand that (my DS is 4).

[Bird Girl]

Yes, we have the rule that bathroom talk is only for the bathroom. They can stand in there all day and tell each other that they are poo-poo heads, if they want. Hey, I wonder how long that would give me to be on the computer?