How do others handle it when their little darling let rip with a swear word? My two year old grandson was singing happily when I took him for a walk the other day. I wasn't paying too much attention until I realised that he was chanting a swear word beginning with 'B' over and over again. He probably had no idea that it was a swear word, and having heard it on TV probably liked the sound of it! I thought it best to distract him with another word. There was no point in telling him that the word was unpleasant as that would have enouraged him to say it all the more! I wrote this article on the subject a while back.
Quozzicles
A mother asked advice on an Internet message forum after her angelic, two-year-old son came home from his day nursery and uttered an unpleasant swear word. Realising that it was causing consternation, he proceeded to use the word at every conceivable opportunity, delighting both in the sound and the resulting effect on his audience.
Many parents experience a Beam me up Scottie moment when, in a quiet part of the church service, or when an elderly, intensely shockable aunt is taking tea, a fearful word is enunciated with utmost clarity! The usual advice is to try to ignore this behaviour, and at the same time distract the child with another more pleasurable activity.
My suggestion is, that if all else fails, and on the basis of if you cant beat them, join them, you need to find an even better made up word that would give the child freedom of expression!
QUOZZICLES has a nice ring to it. Let the child hear you saying it, when you have broken something, for instance. Look shame-faced and imply that quozzicles is not quite nice. The chances are that the little darling will latch on to quozzicles with gusto and forget the unpleasant swear word.
This is just another little incident on the assault course that is parenting.