3 Yr Old with a Potty Mouth...

My son is 6 and he still does this, although he seems to be getting out of it. At age 4-5 it was the worst, he was just facsinated with potty talk. We would threaten to wash his mouth out with soap, and one day my husband actually did it. Even this didn't stop him for very long. I could not just ignore it either, I just feel it's not right. So I always tell him to stop, it's unacceptable. I found one thing that worked: the other morning, I was lying in bed and I heard my two boys in their room talking. Suddenly, I heard my 6 year old say the word bu**crack, and then his little brother repeated it. I jumped up and went in there, and took away one of his favorite toys, stashed it in my closet. I told him he'd lose one every time he used bad language. I haven't heard any since!

And don't worry, you're not the only one experiencing this. My son's friends were all doing it too!

M.,

My son was the same way at your sons age. Our therapist recommended us using listerine the original flavor. Take a small toothbrush dip it in the toothbrush and rub it on his tongue. Leave it there for however long his age is. My son would say bad things and bite..It worked finally and now all i have to do is tell him that he is going to get the listerine and he stops. I hope that I have been of some help.

Thanks,
Kim

My youngest son is autistic and doing anything with him was real hard. He would act out and scream very loud and get everybody's attention. Talk about wanting to crawl under a rock! So what I tried was when we would go shopping for everytime that he listened and did what he was supposed to he got a sticker. If he received three stickers he got a reward (coke or candy bar). What you could do is opposite, if he gets no stickers in a day he gets a reward but for every bad word he gets a sticker, and if he has a sticker he gets no reward. Start small, like a sticker every hour and move up to every two hours until you get through a whole day. Eventually you won't have to do it. I can now go shopping without any stickers! (but he will still get a small reward if he is very good.)

I would try removing him from whatever situation you're in. If you're in a restaurant, go sit in the car. The big thing is not to react emotionally. He's trying to get a rise out of you and you have to follow through with actions. He probably thinks you'll yell and get upset, but won't actually DO anything. As with all behavior correction it will probably get worse for a week or two as he tries harder, but then you'll see dramatic results. Best of luck!

My husband and I have had the same experience with our son, who is now 5. At first we gave him time outs (1 minute for each year old he was.) That didn't work for very long. So we tried ignoring it, but that didn't work well either. We then just calmly told him that we don't use those words. Every time he would say a bad word, we just said that over and over. We learned that as long as we didn't make a huge deal out of it, he learned those words were really no big deal, even though were upset we he was saying them. He eventually grew out of it. But we did have some embarrassing moments, so I understand what you're going through.

I have to older kids now and never had a issue so much with them but when I was little I got into trouble alot!
My mother would stick me in the corner and put alum powderon my toung it's not harmful but it worked after a few times it's a bitter taste and is used in cooking it is a little more tart that baking powder wich works too. Being this is a cooking ingredient it is ok hahahahah it will make you pucker for sure!Maybe since were talking a 3 year old use this in the combination to brush the toung with instead of the corner!!
Good Luck,
Vc

Well - I'm sure my response is going to be frowned upon, but... I grew up with parents who did believe in punishment. And I also believe in it. When my daughter was 3/4 she tried to get away with what I taught her were "mommie & daddie words". I tried to talk to her about it, and then one day I got tired of it. I bought a special tooth brush, sat her down and told her if she wanted to use "ugly & dirty words" I would have to wash her mouth each time. She thought I was just kidding with her. After a few days - she did it again. I got a bar of soap - took her to the bathroom - got some on the "potty mouth tooth brush" and brushed her tongue while I calmly discussed (one sided mind you) with her why it was not right to use those words. And she is a very stubborn child. It took 4 or 5 times before she finally got it. I didn't use a lot of soap - just enough for her to taste it. And of course after I always ended up crying in another room.

My son went through the same stage and I would put a drop of Joy dish soap on his tongue, he would spit and sputter for about 10 minutes but he still remembers to this day and he's 8 now that if he says a bad word momma's going to put soap on his tongue, he warns his sisters and friends not to say bad words!! I was babysiiting this 3 year old over the summer and his dad cussed like a sailor and the child picked it up, it only took me 2 days to break him of the potty mouth with the joy soap, his dad was so surprised that his son no longer had the potty mouth!!

try hot sauce i know it sounds cruel but i have had many friends tell me this works i dont know but i think its better than soap wich most kids tend to like after a few times

My 4 yr old picked up a few bad words and rather than ignore it I tell him that Mommy doesn't like those words and that they are not kid words. That seems to work better than my mother-in-law's approach of ignoring it, because that just seems to encourage it. Hope this helps.

Hi, it is a common thing for pretty much all children of that age. They are definitley doing it for the reaction they get out of you. Some kids think that all attention is good, even if it's bad attention. My friend gave me some very good advice that works like magic (still). When my daughter started it I wouldn't react at all, even though inside I'd be totally embarrassed or boiling with rage), I would simply say "Oh, we don't say that word." That's pretty much it. If she would repeat it I'd just say again "Yeah, we don't say those words". She wouldn't use those words again, she'd try others, of course, but I'd just keep doing the same thing and she'd stop. She even started telling people in the grocery stores that would swear or say something inappropriate as they walked by that we don't use those words. It was soooo funny to see teenage boys totally embarrassed by a 4 year old girl!
Totally ignoring it will make it worse because they want SOME reaction to what they are doing. If you downplay it, they got a reaction and it was totally boring, so they'll stop. I always made sure that I would wait about 10-15 minutes after the interaction (enough time that she wouldn't associate it) and go and give her a hug and kiss and tell her how great she was and how much I loved her. They won't realize this is a reaction to their words, but it will really discourage them from doing something in the future because they will realize how much you love them.
Good luck & hope this helps!
Y.

My question is ... if you and your husband don't use foul language around your child and you don't watch movies/TV with foul language in them around your child ... where is he learning it from? Maybe end THAT connection.

Washing his mouth out with the most horrid tasting soap you can find worked well when I was a kid!

My 3 year old just went through this same exact phase. It was awful! We tried all of the hints the other moms already suggested, but I found one thing that worked like a charm for him. I did this at home with no body around to hear...but whenever he would start his bad words, one day I just blurted out "say it again". I made him repeat it two or three times, and all of a sudden he said "no, mommy, those are bad words". He wanted my attention, but it wasnt the reaction he was looking for, therefore, the word wasnt any fun anymore. I had to do this about 4 or 5 times over a week or so, and guess what..no more bad words!

Ignoring can work if you do it the right way. First of all your child is saying these words to get your attention and it sounds like it works! You have to tell him that you are ignoring him because he is using those words and when he'd like to stop you will listen to him. Also you can say if you'd like to say those words you can say them in your bedroom by yourself. This is no fun so he will probably stop. I made the mistake of letting sh** enter the vocabulary of my 2 year old. I ignored at first, she still used it, but when I told her that I was not going to listen to her when she used that word afer awhile it really bothered her. I also came up with funny alternative words to use instead and that really helped too. We All say "pickles" no instead of sh**. You have to eliminate the words from your house though if you really expect your kids to not say them though. Good luck