Another (but not so good) first
Baby books are great. You can document your child’s first tooth, first word, first steps, first birthday.
But I’ve got a new one to enter.
First swear word.
My little 3-year-old outfielder was waiting patiently for his cousin to hit him a ball at grandma’s house on Easter. He waited and waited. Begged for a ball to come his way. Finally, it happened. The ball tumbled his way. He ran up, glove on hand and wanted nothing more than to catch that ball in his mitt.
But he missed.
And then it came out.
“Oh, S**T!”
I think I about fell over from shock. How could such a young, innocent mouth use such a bad word? Not wanting to make the biggest scene on the lawn at grandma’s, I put the seriousness in my eyes and voice. “What did you say? Who told you that?”
He cowered and told me who he heard it from. Still in shock, I let him know in no uncertain terms he is not to use that word again. But I’m scared to know what’s next.
Have a toddler who used a bad word? Did you ignore it or punish them? Let me know here or e-mail me at esmith@opubco.com. I’d love to hear from you.
-Erica Smith
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Comments
When my husband was watching the OU/Oregon game at his dad’s and drinking some beer, the term “GD MF” apparently slipped out more than once. My son was in the other room with grandma, but heard it everytime because I was playing with him in his kiddie pool the next day, and he was having so much fun splashing around, so he started screaming “God D*** Mother F***** God D*** Mother F*****!!!!” Over and over. I couldn’t get him to stop. His daddy got the most awful “talking to” of his life that day.
Then my little one was dumping the playground sand out of his little shoes one day, and he said, “Holy S***!” The was the LAST time I heard those dirty words come out of his mouth.
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You can usually tell when they’re trying to do it to make you mad, and that’s when it works better to ignore the behavior. My daughter screamed a cuss word all the way back to her room one day when she was mad at me somewhere around your son’s age. I said nothing, and she never did it again. Most of the time, all I have to do is tell them not to use it again like you did. The bigger deal you make of it, the more they might say it for shock value to get attention.