How can I break my 4 year old of her naughty mouth?

Question

Every other word is "frickin", "stupid", and her favorite thing to do is make up words but she says them in a way that you KNOW they are meant to be bad.

Answer 1

Time outs are good...with an explanation that this is not appropriate language....

Answer 2

Have you tried giving her alternative words to use instead, and explaining that those words will not be tolerated. Ignore her if she is using them to get what she wants. She probably gets a reaction from you when she says them and children often look for those as a way to test limits. If she gets no reaction, she will probably move on to other ways.She may be frustrated and needs help with problem solving skills. She may need to learn to express her feelings, like "I am mad" , so try to get her to tell you what she is feeling. Hope this helps.

Answer 3

I do appreciate the lady's 'solution' of speaking to her about it etc etc, but the same thing happened with the little boy i nannied for - 3 years, and (with parental consent of course!) he had a little pepper put on his tongue whenever a 'word' was said (yes they will clamp their teeth together, place it on your finger and rub a little on lips or in a little if you can. Worked a treat. Also, when out of home, take the little travel sachets of pepper, simply pulling it out of your handbag if she starts with the 'words' should be enough of a deterent. It really isnt as nasty as it sounds!

Answer 4

Soap, seriously, soap.

Answer 5

My sisters and I had a same problem. My mother threatened us to put pepper on our tounge. One day, my sister swore at my mother and my mom grabbed ahold of her and my sister never swore (until later when she got into the 6th grade and started doing it to be cool, but that's a different story). Threatening them with soap or pepper is sure not going to hurt them or put a scar on them.

If you wish to put a calmer approach on them, put them in timeout or send them to their room or make them go without their favorite dessert.

If you use something strong, but not something to hurt them enough, they will realize that they don't like whatever it is you did to them and will most likely not do it again.

Answer 6

First, don't allow anyone to use 'naughty' words around her.  She is just copying what she has heard on TV or movies and what people around her say. "Do as I say, not as I do" doesn't work with kids, they watch and listen even when adults don't think they can hear them and they see the rise that other people get from this type of language or their mood when they use the language and just soak it up. They are learning language and trying to figure out how to use it properly.

If she's making up bad words, ignore it, she sounds like a sharp kid. She is aping the language patterns she hears others using and trying to make words fit. Making up "bad" words and using them is better than using her fists on someone when she gets mad.

The best thing to do is to talk to her when she uses "real" bad words and tell her that nice people don't use that kind of language and then ignore her when she does use bad language.  Don't answer her questions or give her things unless she uses proper words. If she tries getting something using inappropriate language, ignore it until she repeats the request using proper language, then tell her how pleased you are that she is smart and learning to use nice language and honor her request.

If you react to her bad language that will tell her that it is good to use because it gets results and she will continue using it.  Ignore it and it should disappear because it isn't effective for her.  Most of all, be a good role model for her.

As for using pepper, vanilla, soap, etc. on the tongue, that is considered child abuse by the authorities and could get the parents in trouble.

Answer 7

wash her mouth with soap.......or just take away all her barbies

Answer 8

Beat her till she cant talk anymore......Just kidding...but really do it....lol

Answer 9

First, find the source of where she learned those bad words, if you do keep her away from that source, then whenever she says a bad word, scold her, and slap her mouth, or where evr u want to slap her

Answer 10

BEAT DA FOOL OUTTA HER!!! My mom did that to me and it'll be a cold day in h**l before i ever curse around her, i dont even say d**n

Answer 11

a lot of parents think soap is very harsh...i agree. forcing kid to eat soap? thats just wrong. what u should do is everytime she says a bad word is take a tiny bit of vanilla extract and put it on her tongue because it has a bitter taste and no 4 year old will enjoy it. even better is put a tiny drop of ambasol (pain reliever) it is a liquid that u place on ur gums or canker sores to numb them. it is incredibly bad tasting and she probably will nto like the feeling of the numbness (it is like when you go to the dentist and get novicaine but no where near as strong)

Answer 12

The best way to break her to to watch your own mouth. She has to learn it from somewhere

Answer 13

i agree with gibson, except i used a piece of black pepper.....never did it again.

Answer 14

Like this?  "If you don't shutup I'm going to flupsickin you!"  LOL - just yell at her for bad words and reward her when she doesn't say them for a certain amount of time!

Answer 15

There's probably not much you can do other than ignore it and wait for it to pass, which it will.  She's at a stage of development, which all children go through, where she's testing your limits.  Similar to the "Terrible Two's" where something similar happens and the child's favorite word becomes "NO!"

It's perfectly normal and she should stop on her own.  You can, of course, try to explain to her that the behavior isn't good and that you don't approve of it but don't expect any real results.

Good luck!

Answer 16

my nephew had this problem and he quickley learned he hates timeout, everytime he said something innaprpriate he got sit in a timeout chair for 5 minutes hes five so it is good to go by there age, its worked good so far

Answer 17

first of all, make sure no one around her says these words. The notion that adult can say certain things but children can't doesn't work. So if someone near the child uses these words, this is the place to start. It is a well known and proven fact that children learn through example.

Once this is out of the way, make sure you find her a role model. If she is using that kind of language, it is probably to imitate someone she cares very much about and admires a lot.

No yelling, no treats, these are short term remedies, it covers the wound, does not cure it, it will be in the background waiting to happen. Give her examples of people who use this kind of language, and of course, that are not doing well, and also, give her examples of people that are the way you would like her to be, so she can see the alternative.

It has to come from her, she has to want to change, you are the one  that will have to...... I don't like the word, MANIPULATE her into changing. It' s the only way you' ll get long term results

Answer 18

she will stop saying those words

Answer 19

get a chair and make it the "time out chair"

and when she says the naughty words just

put her on their for about 5 mins

Answer 20

every thing she said she heard from someone else, probably you