"What a little brat"

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And, "I a good girl".

I have a two year old daycare girl who keeps saying these things. She has a ten year old cousin living with her for another few weeks until their home is finished. So, I assume she learned it from cousin.

But, anyway... the other two year olds are saying these things at home now.

I actually hate "I'm a good girl" more than "WHat a little brat" (for some reason) She says the brat comment to the baby dolls here.

The other parents are ALL asking me about these two statements. So, it's clearly a problem.

Help! I need to undo this right away.

[One_Girl]

I would try to redirect her to the nicer statement that she is hooked on in reference to the dolls by telling her what good babies she has. Telling her that hurts the babies feelings and then "comforting" the baby may work. Holding a baby and modeling talking nicely to it while she is also playing with dolls may also rub off on her. I wouldn't ignore the possibility that she is hearing this from her parents. My dd had a friends who is a psychologist and both parents called her a brat in public and were extremely punitive with her in physically non-violent ways. They seemed like very nice people and it was very shocking that someone with that much education who works with kids in a school setting would resort to emotionally abusive tactics to control his dd's difficult behavior. I no longer assume that I know that other people don't do the same thing.

[eepster]

It sounds like she is working through feelings she has about her older cousin calling her a brat then declaring that she (older cousin) is a good girl. By reenacting it with the dolls she can take on the more powerful roll in the situation.

I would talk about how the dolls feel and how she feels (in both rolls.) I would also help her find words the dolls can use when they are called brats that makes them feel more in control. Something like "please don't say 'brat' it's very rude." Then let her try out the words herself with the rolls the other way.

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Thanks! I'll try out the roll playing with the dolls. I would let this slide, except the other parents are having issues with this too.

[LynnS6]

You could also try the replacement technique - "you can say 'what a little brat, but don't you dare say "what a little rutabaga"' (or whatever funny word you can think of). Then when they say "what a little rutabaga" shriek in mock horror and make a big deal of it. They'll think it's funny, and keep saying that rather than the more troublesome ones.

[TiredX2]

Moved to Toddlers

[dancebaraka]

Originally Posted by eepster

It sounds like she is working through feelings she has about her older cousin calling her a brat then declaring that she (older cousin) is a good girl. By reenacting it with the dolls she can take on the more powerful roll in the situation.

my thoughts exactly...