How To Respond To Inappropriate Potty Talk

Your child is the master of the bathroom and of his body. He has also learned the power of potty words, poopy head, pee pee breath, penis face, and every combination's thereof. The words have power because children laugh and adults go wild. The behavior is all about attention . As soon as you remove the pay off, the behavior will disappear.


As always, remove the emotional incentive. Your child has the power if he know he's pushing your buttons. Is better for him to discover that power through his other positive abilities. Speak calmly and directly: "I DONT LIKE DOES WORDS." If your child continues, remove the audience. Leave the scene or separate the children. Again explain what you're doing: "WE AREN'T GOING TO LISTEN TO YOU, OR WE'LL BE BACK WHEN YOUR DONE BEING SILLY."


Give him alternatives

If your child's trying a new word on for size, you can probably persuade her to substitute another exciting word (try "abracadabra" or "shazzam"). Or you could swap a similar-sounding goofy word for the inappropriate one — snoopynose for poopynose, for example. If the problem is that she's short on acceptable words to express intense anger or frustration, it may help to encourage her to say loudly, "I'm mad" or "I'm frustrated." Some families invent amusing epithets of their own ("Oh, shoes," for instance). At the very least, suggest less-offensive alternatives, such as "crud" and "darn."


Calm and direct always works. There are some situation, however, when your child isn't sure you mean what you say. In these cases, the provocative behavior escalates. Stay calm. Your child is just checking you.


Watch your own mouth

Sure, there are different rules for adults' and children's behavior, but if your 5-year-old hears you casually pepper your daily conversation with profanity, it'll be a lot harder to convince her not to talk that way herself. If she mimics something you said, admit that you shouldn't have used that word either, agree to mutually discard it from your vocabularies — and then follow through on cleaning up your act.


Of course, you are human. If your first reaction was hush, scold, and threaten, that's normal. Just take three step backwards, admit that you lost it, explain again calmly what behaviors is appropriate, and change the immediate situation. Let it be, there's no need to repeat your point until your child winds up for a second round


Watch your own mouth

Sure, there are different rules for adults' and children behavior, but if your 5-year-old hears you casually pepper your daily conversation with profanity, it'll be a lot harder to convince her not to talk that way herself. If she mimics something you said, admit that you shouldn't have used that word either, agree to mutually discard it from your vocabularies — and then follow through on cleaning up your act.