cheeky 5 year old

[skettle]

My 5 year old son is generally well behaved but it so cheeky it is embarrasing. Its not just me he does it with either, other family members, people in the street, the till operator at tesco!...everyone, he doesnt care.

Some of his comments to me include: "shut up", "shut your big fat gob", "whatever", "do you want a smack?", "Im going to punch you in a minute" and "Im not eating that, Ill throw it on the floor!".

Comments to other people include "why do you have a fat belly?" "shut up", "what you staring at?" etc.

its got to the point where I hate people talking to him wondering what he is going to say back them. Other times he is the sweetest thing, he's very funny and is often seen as a clown (in a good way!) by family members and teachers etc... I really do want to stop this cheekyness though. any ideas?

No idea how, but you have to put a stop to this. It's not cheeky, it's downright rude and will get him into trouble. And his comments to you are plain wrong, and worrying. How is he going to treat you when he's a teenager and bigger and stronger than you if this is the way he talks to you now?

Sorry skettle but I think you have to start introducing some form of discipline or punishment every time he does this. I would be mortified if ds (also 5) came out with comments like this, and I would not let him get away with it if he did.

Perhaps start by having him apologise to the person concerned and then I would do something like ban him from his favourite toys or activities, or send him somewhere boring (like the laundry) for a long time-out each time it happens. Something that is going to get through to him, & be very consistent with it. I would also be explaining how hurtful and rude these sorts of comments are, and asking him how would he feel if someone said nasty things to him. He needs to get some understanding pretty quickly that this is not ok.

agree with the previous 2 posters, this is quite rude of your DS and he has to understand it. the shut up thing well DS thinks (through school, he's 5 too) that "shut up" is a "sh word" just like another rude word.

As for the fat belly comment, I think it happens when they are younger (I certainly remember DS saying his aunty had legs like hippo on one occasion when he was between 2-3...) but now he's much too old and should realise that it hurts people's feelings... Again am sure the school has it in its golden rules about not hurting other people's feelings. they are plenty old enough at 5 to understand it. Have a long chat with him about it.