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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>OMG..2 Year old Swearing!!
My4SunshineGirlsNY 04:52 AM 05-12-2010
How do you discipline a 2 year old daycare child that starts saying a bad word?

This boy is my half nephew (my sister in law had this boy after she split with my brother in law....and to make a long story short she left the childs dad and went back with my brother in law).

Well this morning the boy started saying "****" (the "F" word)...the first time I thought it was an accident as a 2 year olds' vacabulary isn't always clear..but then he said it again...and again...and again. Said it about 6 times and I firmly told him "no".

I don't know if he's trying to say something else but if he is I can't figure out what. It sounds very clear to me. I don't think my Sister-in-law swears like that but I have heard my brother-in-law from time to time.

Has anything like this happened to any of you...so young? He's just learning his vocab so he doesn't know it's bad...what is an effective way to teach him not to say it?
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SunflowerMama 05:12 AM 05-12-2010
Personally I would ignore it and ask his mama if maybe he's saying something else. At that age my girls would be saying "jacket" but came out "f... it" clear as day. My husband and I would just repeat jacket after they would say it and wouldn't give a big reaction and eventually they started saying it correctly.

I've always heard at this young of an age if they are saying bad words it's either them trying to pronounce another word or maybe something they overheard but to just ignore and don't give a reaction. I have an almost 4 yr old dcb and he was trying to be silly yesterday and was saying poopy about something and at this age I just tell him that we don't use potty words at my home and he quickly stopped.
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TGT09 05:39 AM 05-12-2010
My 4 y.o. niece is a cusser and I'd say the F word is definitely in her vocab and has been since she could talk. Her parents think it's funny and do nothing to get her to stop. She uses the words multiple times and in the right context. I get so mad when I hear her because she will be starting preschool in the fall. When another little kid ticks her off they are a B**** or an A**hole. It's lovely.

I agree with twinmama, more than likely at that age he is trying to say something else. But, I too would definitely say something to Mom to see what she says. I would ignore it to a point but if you honestly think he might NOT be saying that then the next time he says it, ask him "what?". If he repeats, tell him to show you what he's talking about.
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jen 06:13 AM 05-12-2010
Hopefully he's trying to say something else...my son used to say the F-word clear as day when he was trying to say truck...
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mismatchedsocks 06:19 AM 05-12-2010
I have a little girl who is 2 that says light "switch" but that word comes out plain as day the other word. I have also had kids say swear words at this age, like Oh s*&t! and i just calmly without looking up say johnny we dont say that at ms ambers house. Its hard at that age to determine what is being said. Try not to make too big of a deal out of it but correct him or try to figure out what he is saying. Good luck!
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My4SunshineGirlsNY 06:34 AM 05-12-2010
I guess I will redirect him to another word that sounds like that...if I ignore it I'm sure my own 4 year old daughter will copy it..she's like that. I like the "truck" idea...I'll try using that.
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safechner 06:34 AM 05-12-2010
Yep it happened to me twice. A year ago, I had daycare girl who was 2 years old. She called a bad word that she learns from her 3 years old sister. I explained to her, "this is very nasty word that we don't use at all" and I put her time out without warning. She learned and never use it again. It works. My daughter was the same thing when she was 3 years old because she heard someone said those foul words in the store. She said it at home and I explained to her the same thing and I put her time out without warning. She never said it again at all.

I personally wouldn't ignore it. Do you know why? When I was a child like 2 years old and I learned from all of my older cousins who uses bad words and my parents think it is funny. I never stop called bad words until I was 13 years old and I of course got in trouble many many times in schools. I was very guts. That was a long time ago. My best friend's nephew who learned those foul words when he was 2 years old from his father who called bad words all the time. His parents and grandparents think it is funny but we don't think so. Now he is 5 years old and he is still using bad words..

Now you might want to think about it because there are other daycare kids might learn from him to say those bad words and they might said it at home. I am sure you dont want to do that but my advice to tell him No and explain to him and put him time out without warning to see if it works. It works for me so far.
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QualiTcare 07:01 AM 05-12-2010
when my son was 2, the lady at his daycare tried to say he was pointing at his friends and calling them mother f'ers. she sent him to the office for it and swore that's what he was saying.

i said there's no way cus he hasn't heard that and i don't go around pointing at people. now, if you told me he said the F word by itself, that i could believe and i wouldn't deny it. she thought i was lying of course cus she HEARD him!

well, a week or two passed and i was in the car on the way to daycare when my son did something with his hand/fingers (i can't rem. what) and said look at MY FINGERS and when he said it, it sounded just like mother f'ers. when i got to the daycare, i took him in the office and said, "show miss _______ what u showed me with your fingers." as soon as he did/said it she was like oh my gosh! i was upset that he got in trouble since he couldn't have had a clue what he was being punished for. it would've been nice to been given the benefit of the doubt.

now, my daughter said "what the F" at daycare when she was 4 and i had no alibi for that. i told her teacher i wasn't gonna insult her or myself by acting like i didn't know where she heard that from. i talked to my daughter about it and started censoring myself. you can't punish a kid for copying what they've heard. if that is what he's saying - i'd talk to his mom about it and ignore it if he says it again. he'll quit saying it if you quit reacting to it, and hopefully his parents will be embarrassed and clean up their language.
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bre1313 08:09 AM 05-12-2010
I distract them saying "silly boy, I think you mean to say "Flowers"
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MarinaVanessa 08:10 AM 05-12-2010
lol I was 13 when my little sister was 3 and she started saying the other four letter word for poop. I immediately got in trouble for it. Problem is I wasn't a cusser. Turned out that she was saying "ship" like one of her bath toys . He could be trying to say something else, who knows. Come to think about it, I never got an apology for that and I was grounded for a week. I'm going to call my mom lol .
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gkids09 04:06 PM 05-12-2010
We were interviewing a family for my daycare, and they were very young parents with a two year old little boy. Now, I know not all young parents are like this, because we do have a little boy whose mom is only 17 (he'll be 2 in September), and the little guy is great.
Anyway, to make a long story short, the little boy was being quiet, not saying much, so we were going through the interview. Then, he went to the door and when his mom's boyfriend said, "J, don't go outside," the little boy said, VERY CLEARLY, "Mother ******" My grandmother was sitting there, and doesn't hear well, so she didn't understand him. He said it over and over and over and over again...And the mom and boyfriend were laughing saying "oh yeah, he has a potty mouth too." REALLY?? I couldn't tell...
I also have a cousin who was in kindergarten last year, and her teacher was asking the students one at a time if they knew a word that started with a letter of the alphabet. Well, K went to the teacher's desk when it was her turn and said, "I know a word that starts with F: ****. Mommy says we shouldn't say that, but sometimes she does." Her teacher mentioned it to her mom, who told us about it, thinking it was hilarious. Personally, I find nothing about that funny..
I would definitely say talk to his mom, because if others hear him and then go home saying it, you might lose some kids..
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Michael 05:05 PM 05-12-2010
Originally Posted by gkids09:
We were interviewing a family for my daycare, and they were very young parents with a two year old little boy. Now, I know not all young parents are like this, because we do have a little boy whose mom is only 17 (he'll be 2 in September), and the little guy is great.
Anyway, to make a long story short, the little boy was being quiet, not saying much, so we were going through the interview. Then, he went to the door and when his mom's boyfriend said, "J, don't go outside," the little boy said, VERY CLEARLY, "Mother ******" My grandmother was sitting there, and doesn't hear well, so she didn't understand him. He said it over and over and over and over again...And the mom and boyfriend were laughing saying "oh yeah, he has a potty mouth too." REALLY?? I couldn't tell...
I also have a cousin who was in kindergarten last year, and her teacher was asking the students one at a time if they knew a word that started with a letter of the alphabet. Well, K went to the teacher's desk when it was her turn and said, "I know a word that starts with F: ****. Mommy says we shouldn't say that, but sometimes she does." Her teacher mentioned it to her mom, who told us about it, thinking it was hilarious. Personally, I find nothing about that funny..
I would definitely say talk to his mom, because if others hear him and then go home saying it, you might lose some kids..
Yikes! They think its funny? What is wrong with these parents...
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My4SunshineGirlsNY 06:55 PM 05-12-2010
Originally Posted by michael:
Yikes! They think its funny? What is wrong with these parents...
Those are the parents you want to run from!
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gkids09 11:34 AM 05-14-2010
I couldn't believe they thought it was funny. I was just glad the other kids were down for a nap so they wouldn't run around repeating what he was saying!! Needless to say, we didn't take the kid...lol
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Tags:2 year old, behavior, swearing
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