"No! Bad!"

[Otterella]

The cats, that is. This is what DS has started telling them when he sees them doing something they're not supposed to be doing. I don't mind the "No!" so much, but the "Bad!" really bothers me. We have never told him he's bad, but DH has said it to the cats before and I didn't realize it. Now DS has picked up on it and I'm not sure how to correct it. I don't want him thinking that inappropriate behavior equals "being bad" even if it is just the cats.

[S.Lee]

Same here!! I said it to the dog, now ds uses when he is upset, he says it to me! I usually just say that hurts, I don't like it, something like that, but it hasn't slowed him down.

[_betsy_]

DD (just turned 2) has been yelling "Neo! Get DOWN!" every time she sees the poor cat. I scolded him for being on the dining room table, where the cats aren't allowed to be. Poor cat is sleeping, or lying on the floor or just walking through the room and DD is screaming at him to get down. I don't get it, I didn't yell at him, but she has to. I've told her it's OK, he's OK where her is, that I said that when he was on the table, that I'll take care of it and she doesn't have to worry about the cats... everything I can think of and the poor cat keeps getting yelled it. It'll die down, and then one of us will pick up a cat to get them out of the way or something, and it starts up all over again.

We have three cats, she only ever yells at Neo. The skittish one. The loner. The one who would be perfectly happy having nothing to do with us except at 4 a.m. when he wants to be petted.

[Isamama]

I am experiencing this as well. I think they are just practicing and working out /processing what they hear.

"Stupid" and "Shut up" were a few months ago (still hear it every once in a while). We started to say, "We don't use those words in this house" that morphed into "We try not to say those words in this house." Yeah, both not very effective.

Now it is "BAD!!" this and "BAD!!!" that... What really gets me going is "He's a BAD boy/She's a BAD girl."

Kids live in the world and they hear all kinds of things. They could hear perfectly innocent comments and come up with all sorts of stuff. My daughter catches on to meanings very quickly and uses those words in different context. In other words, she may not have heard a particular use of a word, but quickly puts new words to use in all sorts of ways.

What's hard for me, to be honest, is thinking that other people may think we talk this way in our house (we call nothing bad unless it is food that has gone bad). I have said something like, "Stupid SUV," while driving in traffic, and boy did my dd pick up on that quickly.

I think they will sort things out. It is just a little horrifying in the meantime. It has taught me to really think about what I say....