My toddler swears...anyone else?

[clevername]

My 2 year old DS says 'bugger', on purpose, as clear as day, because he's heard us say it and he obviously likes the reaction he gets when he says it. I find this hilarious and also very embarrassing, depending who is listening when he says it.

He also says, unintentionally:
'shite' ('light')
'tit' ('sit')
cock ('clock')

Anyone else's child swear like a sailor?

I say shit, bugger and bloody all the time and totally failed to modify this after having children. I did manage to stop saying fuck in front of them but that took a gargantuan effort.

Children are more sophisticated than people give them credit for. They understand from early on that there are adult words that they are not allowed to use. My children do not swear, despite my use of language.

Except once. When we were on holiday, and ds aged 6 had an upset tummy, and we were running back to the apartment for him to get to the loo. It was a race against time and stressful for both of us. We made it, he ran into the bathroom, closed the door, pause, then he burst out again with a frantic “Where’s the bloody light switch?!”

We both looked at each other, his eyes widened, realising what he’d said, then we both burst out laughing. I couldn’t help it. It was so perfectly in context. Obviously when I’d recovered I told him not to say that again till he’s a grown up, and he hasn’t. He knew not to.

There are worse things than the odd bugger, op. You can make him understand it’s not to be repeated. The novelty will wear off.

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER

Heil Hitler is hilarious 😂

If bugger is ok, then so is arse? Shit? Tosser? Wanker? Pissed off?

You forgot fuck and cunt

So many funny stories, thank you.
'Fuck the pope'

Also agree with Ophelia on this thread. Yes you don't want to encourage a toddler to F and blind, but if you think your kids aren't going to hear any swearing just because you don't swear in front of them, you must be bonkers. They'll hear it from people in the street, playground, shops, your less careful child-free mates, all over the place. Even the Harry Potter films are full of "bloody". What's important is that they understand what it is, what it's for and when you absolutely can't do it and how much it can upset people.

I love swearing - in moderation, when appropriate, it can make you feel a lot better and can be very funny. And there is evidence that people who swear are more, not less, linguistically able and have a better vocab than non-swearers.

I did steer my kids away from accidental / copycat swearing when they were small, because they were too young to understand it. But IMO they should be helped to understand it as they grow older.

Also a bit at a 14yo who never swears. Not when you can hear him he doesn't!

Some people don’t swear. My husband doesn’t swear. His parents didn’t and he doesn’t.

I do it enough to make up for the 2 of us

Actually I’d forgotten that ds’s first word after ‘mummy’ was ‘cock’. He’d heard it somewhere in the context of chicken; god knows where, and would shout it every time he saw a picture of a chicken. You have no idea quite how many pictures of chickens are in the world around us until you are in possession of a child in a pushchair who will excitedly shout “COCK! COCK!” on sight. The naice fancy pants wine shop was the worst. Bottle of wine with a chicken on. Couldn’t get him out of there quick enough.

@clevername fistbump 😊

My mother never uttered a swear word in her life. When she died, my aunties all told me that even when she was a teenager she never so much as bloodied or buggered. They all agreed how 'ladylike' she was.

Well clearly her influence didn't run off on me, so it just goes to show that however saintly you are in the effing and jeffing dept it won't always turn out how you hope.

And fuck being ladylike!

*rub off 🙄

@Frenchw1fe, no, I don't think it too much explaining - she was constantly singing S of M songs at the time. They put 2 and 2 together and luckily found it very funny.

Totally agree, CatInTheDaytime

This thread has actually made me realise just how much I love swearing, It's fucking awesome and I should do it more.

Fuck the pope oh dear!!

The swearing is amusing when they mispronounce things. My DS's first babbling were "bugga bugga bugga" and DD loved to quack like a duck but it just sounded like "twat twat twat!"

A few looks but nothing bad! I just kept on pronouncing things properly.

Oh dear. My dd (2) recently told me our dog was "fuck annoying mummy"
We have an excitable terrier and sometimes between the dog and 2 toddlers I guess I forget to moderate my language. I just told her not to say that it's rude and she hasn't said it since (yet). I think bugger is very mild in comparison

My eldest used to pronounce chip shop- shit shop and ice cream - arse cream.
"Mum can I have arse cream?" Always had a few funny looks in the shops 🤦🏻‍♀️

I overheard a friend of my dd (8 at the time) talking about swearing to her once. There was a long list of pretty benign films she wasn't allowed to watch because of minor swearing. Sing was one of them. But the judgemental way she'd been taught about swearing really disturbed me. "I'm not allowed to watch or read anything with swearing in because Mummy and Daddy don't want me turning into that kind of girl"

This child swears a lot when away from her parents if she thinks no-one is listening. Also tells massive lies and has issues with being very judgemental of others whilst having low self esteem because she thinks others are judging her in this same way. Obviously more at play than swearing, but highly illustrated by it.

Ron Weasley introduced 'bloody hell' into my children's lives They use it hilariously and appropriately, along with 'Merlin's beard'.

I distrust people who never swear. This is backed up by research. And I find myself swearing a little around the mother of the friend who forbids swearing because if someone is going to be so prissy, shocked and judgemental about words like damn, arse and hell they need to get over themselves imo.

My nearly three year old "it's fucking freezing out here”, "I dropped my fucking yoghurt".

Gonna have to have a word with preschool about where she's getting this language from....

We never fucking swear in our house.

We joke that if I had introduced a swear jar for family when DD1 was little we would now be able to afford a bigger house. Our family is a mix of Irish and London (east end) and FIL was a trucker.

I'll never forget packing away the toys at MIL's after xmas and my then 3 year old stamping his foot and saying 'Fuck's sake Mamma!' Sadly we live in a country where English is not the main language spoken so he could only have got it from me :o

My daughter used to say WANKER when she meant blanket. So she'd follow me around asking for her blanket (comfort item) and it would sound exactly like I had a 2 year old following me about yelling WANKER WANKER! I would have preferred the bell of shame!

My dad still calls the beach the 'bitch'...he's lived here nearly 30 years!

DS just tells us off 'Oh Dear nonna' to my DM who asks him to do things like put his shoes on or finish breakfast and 'now mummy, don't be grumpy when I wriggle and talk' (for ages when I do bedtime stories!)

I've had to stop saying 'Oh for goodness sake' as he's started saying 'Oh sake!' to his toys.

DD spends every walk looking for a really big dick (stick) that she can drag along with her. 'Look at my dick!!' 'Where's my dick gone?' We have to try not to laugh but I am usually hiding behind a tree giggling.

Oh yes! We have 'dick' for 'stick' too. Much hilarity was had when DS saw a picture of Stick Man in a shop window the other day.

I'm loving 'fuck annoying', 'arse cream' and 'wanker'