When is Swearing Bad in Children and Toddlers

Parents are constantly correcting and guiding their children. Sometimes the advice parents receive is to ignore something and it will go away. This is usually recommended when as child is acting in a certain way specifically to get attention. Unfortunately society will judge our children as soon as they open their mouths, so when is swearing bad and when is it simply an attention tactic?

When your toddler first starts to speak you try to teach them manners and common courtesies. In these early days you are controlling, often without noticing the words which they are absorbing and also the way they form their sentences. These are important times. Unfortunately a toddlers absorption is not limited to your and your families voice.If there is something you don’t want them to learn, it's a guarantee that they will repeat it.

When is swearing bad? As part of the guidance which we offer our children we correct their use of words and when they say something we don’t like we tell them and hope that they will respect our wishes. If your child understands that you don’t like the words they are using and they continue to batter you with them, then the swearing is becoming a problem. It is not just the words which are the problem. Why is your child doing this? Are you fuelling the behavior by pointing it out? You can always try the ignore method and hope that they get bored and stop.If you take this path there are some things to bear in mind. Firstly, you cannot walk around with a banner on your top explaining what you are doing, so when other parents do not hear you admonish your child for their swearing they may think that you are condoning it. So now you will have to deal with your discomfort at your childs swearing and the disapproving looks of other parents.The other issue you might have to address is that your child may notice your discomfort at other people reaction and this may fuel them to continue their mission.

When is swearing bad enough to discipline your child? If you are have tried to reason and ignoring it, then your remaining options are fairly limited. This is the consequence game which every parent ends up playing. Firstly you have to tell you child what you intend to do, then you need to see it through. The consequence has to be suitable. It is often helpful to get other parents views on consequence, but at the end of the day you must choose something which will work with your child, and no one knows your child better than you do. Remember that you will need to choose a consequence which you can also apply when out and about.

Finally, once you have the swearing under control you still cannot quite breathe a sigh of relief. Your child still has one gun in the arsenal, swearing at nursery or school when you are not around.No mother wants to be taken aside to be advised that their kid is swearing badly at other children. Here you will need to follow the school or nurseries guidelines and keep them informed on how you are dealing with this in the home. Together you will solve this.

So is swearing bad? Definitely, but allowing it to go unchecked and snowball out of control is worse.