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Dealing
with Dirty Little Mouths
by Amanda
Sykora, HerDailyDose.com
One day I woke up and realized that my 2-year-old decided
he wanted to be a sailor. Nope, he didn't start wearing white
pants and a silly little hat. That would have suited me just
fine! Instead his mouth matured into something hideous. Sweet
words like "booger" and "poop" had become
"stupid" and "crap."
Where had I gone wrong?
As with anything that a 2-year-old does, I knew this was a
phase. When he was 18 months old he learned how to hit in order
to get his point across. Eventually this phase ended, thank
goodness, as he verbalized his moods a little better. I was
very happy once he started talking clearer and we passed this
physical phase.
How long do phases usually last? I ask because it's been months
now and his maturing mouth is getting worse! I am anxiously
awaiting the end of the "stupid" phase, unfortunately
the end is not in sight.
In the beginning I would correct him each time he spoke crudely.
"That is not a nice word." "Please do not talk
so ugly." "No one is listening when you use ugly words."
I just knew that this was the best way to handle his cursing.
However, it did not work. He would continue using the unwanted
words in every other sentence.
I moved on to the ignore phase. I would flat out ignore him
when he spoke using the bad words. I would not answer him or
even look at him. Sometimes this would work, and sometimes it
led him to talk even worse! It was like he knew I wasn't listening
so he could holler "STUPID!" at the top of his lungs.
Again, mom was wrong.
Back to square one... Where did I go wrong? Where was he picking
up these words?
He has always been a very observant child. If something were
out of place he would immediately realize it and question what
was going on. If a new word were said around him he would start
using it immediately. AHA! Maybe if my husband and I cleaned
up our act he would stop hearing bad words and therefore not
be subjected to them. This was easier said than done.
We erased most bad words from our vocabulary, at least while
we were around our little sailor. We were hoping for a miracle
and since we were not using bad words our son would not either.
Wrong again.
I then began scrutinizing television programs my son watched
regularly. Lo and behold! There was a big problem! Many of these
cartoons were designed for older grade-school children and they
contained undesirable vocabulary! I was very surprised to hear
some of the words I had excluded from my life were showing up
in cartoons.
To this day we are still dealing with my son's mouth. I am
happy to report that it has gotten better, but his verbal disease
is still not completely cured. We have graduated from "stupid"
to variations of the word such as "stupba" or "stuppie."
It's amazing how smart he is. He thinks that if he says a made
up word that remotely sounds like "stupid" then he's
won. Unfortunately he's right! I am learning to deal with the
made up words by trying to ignore them. I also encourage him
to use other words that sound silly; i.e., "kloopy,"
"slooper," and "scooby dooby doo." It does
not always work, but it's worth a shot!
About
the author: Amanda
Sykora is a full time mother to two boys, part time writer of
many subjects, and all the time webmaster of HerDailyDose.com.
Visit http://www.herdailydose.com for more articles written
by her.
This article provided by the Family Content Archives at: http://www.Family-Content.com
Copyright 2004
by Amanda
Sykora .
Reproduction without permission prohibited.
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