What do you do when they pick up an awful word?

[grapeandlemon]

DD 3.8 has started saying "Bollo%&&" when she is frustrated, .
It is the only swear word I use but I thought I was really careful and only slipped up a couple of times in the car. Now she has kind of hung onto it.

Of course the shocked reaction just calls for saying it more and giggling so I have started to ignore just calmly saying, that is not a nice word.

Will it pass? I will be mortified if she does it at school or a playdate

It will pass and you must ignore.

Give her a new phrase for the week when she gets frustrated. Let "oh, Rice Crispies!" or something equally daft "slip out" and she will soon forget the other word.

great idea thank you

I always promise myself that I will stop saying it.

DD says bollocks with a certain panache. Now she is older she knows not to say it at school or at grandmas

yes panache, and she says it in the right context too, at least...

I'd probably be pleased, as DD has only a few words and desperate for her to get more

Seriously, no, I would ignore.

DS2 once shouted really loudly 'shut up you assssss hole!' . He said it really clearly and with perfect tone and inflection. We were really really proud.

Language delay does odd things to you.

I would be proud too

and too

DS's favourite for the past few weeks has been "shut up". Ignoring has done nothing but convince him we don't min if he says it so now he gets told off for the 'naughty word' and it's getting better.

He replaced it with "Oh, spacebar" yesterday

Better for younger children, but dh made up for an inadvertant and instantly picked up "fuck's sake" in from of dd, by buying her a fox hand puppet and convincing her it was "fox says".

Ingenious!

Actually I remembered she first said it in the car when DH (Jon) said "What do you call me then darling?" and she said "Jon, Bollo*&, Jon! "

So he obviously blames me

excellent improv Habbibus DH.

I like "Rats" as a replacement expression of consternation.

I try and say SAUSAGES! or something that sounds like it's come out of PG Wodehouse like BALDERDASH, DRAT or BOTHERATION. So far I've got away with a few slips but DS has ignored them, which is amazing given how much of a parrot he is.

Makes adults who overhear you laugh too.

We have a new swearword today....."Oh, San Diego!"

DH just called a man on the TV, shithead.

[sigh].
In my defence the holidays have been especially long and damp this year.

I tend to give them a bone-freezing glance and say "that's not a word we use"

then go in the other room and pmsl

Greenie

I am having to have those conversations with DD across the board at the moment. It is all part of the same thing I think - trying to be bigger.
She has DS1 who is 17 and then DS2 who seems to get all the breaks. So I think she wants to be older IYSWIM.

So I am getting occasional fruity language but also things like
'Look at me. Do I seem amused to you?'

'this is all trying my patience' etc, etc.

I am trying not to kill her rise to it

paggy my ds1 is going through exactly the same phase

he will march up to me and say imperiously "I think it's about time you were thinking about preparing lunch Mummy, it's getting quite late"

he poked his grandad awake last week at 7.20am and said "Grandad, if you could just slip a couple of rounds of bread in the toaster for us please"

and when he is riled he sprays out phrases like "Right, I have HAD this"

yesterday he lost a game of battle strikers with ds2 and spat out "ARSE!"

I had to run out of the room

he is turning my hair white

at Little Boy Green

we should get them together. It would be like a mini-me convention.....

we should, it would be a scream

DS is three and we were driving through a tunnel

'SHiiiiiiiit and orange tunnel SHiiiiiiiit'

no idea, he has never said it since.....

The only time I have been glad of my DD's language delay was this morning, when I did something very stupid and shouted "shit" several times very loudly.