7 year old ds constantly using words

[spirit4ever]

like 'sex' 'sexy' 'poop' 'weanie'.. and its driving me bloody mad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have gently asked him to stop, that its not the way that we talk in this house, I have physically removed myself from the room, even the kitchen, while we're eating, while he talks like that, i have put him in his room....

I'm at my wits end!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ANd I don't like listening to it, i've tried ignoring it, but i can't!!!!!!!!

oh and I've got a daycare, so I get ESPECIALLY angry when he talks around the younger kids like that because I do not want them picking it up!!!!!!!

what else can i do???

[sapphire_chan]

Try this one (courtesy of L. Cohen's "Playful Parenting"), early in the day before the other kids are there, in fact, wake him up to make sure you have a chance to do it before you're worried about the daycare kids repeating stuff:

"You can say XXX but don't you EVER let me hear you say fraggle!"

He will, if this is going to work, promptly proclaim "fraggle!"

You then overreact with more drama than a three year old. "OH No! You Said FRAGGLE!! My ears!!! Please please please don't say it again!!!"

"Fraggle!!"

"Aaaaaaa you said fraggle again! Don't you know that word is a dangerous word? Okay, okay, you can say it to me, but don't ever ever ever say fraggle to the little kids."

What you're hoping for is a crowd of giggling kids saying "fraggle" all day long and forgetting about it in a couple days.


What's going on with your ds is that he's testing the power of words. It's just like when he was 4 and "poop" was the funniest word in the universe? Only now he knows "adult" words and is seeing how those work. A made-up bad word allows him to play with a word that gets an adult reaction without actually triggering an anger response in you. Your job is to make your reaction to the made-up bad word be infinitely more exciting than your reaction to the words that really bother you.

[MadiMamacita]

i like the previous idea.

This one comes from a former Head Start teacher who dealt with this with kids in her class. She (calmly!) tells the kid that she doesn't like that word, and then has the kid write the word on a piece of paper, crumple it up, and throw it away.
Sounds very simple, but she swears by it.. Not sure if they would continue using the word at home after that.. in which case this wouldn't work for you!

[TinyMama]

As a teacher, I sometimes sent a kid to the bathroom to say the offending word until he/she was tired of it. Some kids had to go back out a few times before they had gotten it out of their system. I'd try to start a really exciting activity (that they were about to miss) in the classroom, too.

[spirit4ever]

thanks guys, i'll def give these a try...

i've tried making the offending word fudge.. which is still a big one, but its ALL the other words!!!!!!!!!!!

[boheime]

Quote removed by moderator.

Yes, definitely!

OP - Have you asked your son if he would like to discuss those subjects with you? If my seven year old was using words a lot out of context (or even in context), I would ask him if he would like to discuss those topics with me.

[DevaMajka]

I have removed some posts for UAV's and the responses.