Toddler swearing

[EmmalinaC]

My darling daughter is exactly two and a half. Her speech/language is very good.

A few minutes ago, she was sitting happily on our bed then turned and said in a voice clear as a bell 'fucking hell, mummy'.

I am utterly horrified. I didn't know how to react - I just looked stunned. So she said it again. And again. And again. In the end I left the room.

DH and I rarely swear and certainly not in front of her but I do remember an incident a couple of weeks ago when I nearly crashed the car and swore loudly - she didn't react at the time and assumed she hadn't heard. I can't believe she's remembered it .

Aside from the obvious (ensuring she never hears that sort of language) I would really appreciate any advice on how to react if she does it again.

(Please god, not in front of my in-laws...)

1] Ignore it

2] Say we don't use those words DD

3] Be stern when she says it

Each option has pros and cons it is which you feel able to choose and be consistnat with.

Personally i have used ~2 & 3 and it has stopped quickly.

Well, I never thought I would but I do swear quite a lot in front of my kids. Dd 2.6 has twice said 'for fuck sake' in context (ie pissed off she couldn't do something). Last time I said, oh, who said that?(Daddy! phew) so Isaid 'well, little girls shouldn't say that. Are you cross? Then you need to go AUUUAAAAAUURRRGHHH' . So she did. We laughed. That's what she does (and I try too. the swearing is so uncouth.)

Isn't it amazing how they recall something said two weeks previous that they didn't seem to notice at the time

Happening all the time at the moment (not with swearing luckily). The one time my son who's nearly two and a half too, said "shit" after someone said it at my house, we thought fast and pointed at the dog and said "that's right, sit!" and got away with it... Turning the word in to something else cuold be another approach?

I can't think if a harmless 'sounds-like' phrase that can be created from 'fucking hell'!!

I told DH about it when he came home and he immediately said 'well I don't say that so she must've got it from you'.

Oh I've done itagain. Answered and not realised it's you

DD picked up "fuck's sake" from a friend - DH bought her a fox hand puppet, and we convinced her that she was saying "fox says" instead. Not sure how that would work with "fucking hell", mind.

Habbibu that's genius!

Umlellala I thought maybe I knew you and your foul-mouthed family

I think I am going to be very careful what I say in the car. I sort of forget she's there half the time...

Nah, just swear continuously then she won't see it as anything special. Honest.

Habbibu that is genius.

Our 2 year old DS went through a stage of saying 'shit' when he dropped something - quite impressive really as he always said it in the right context!!

Our 12 year old DS thought it was hilarious so we had double trouble on our hands!

Anyway, we decided to ignore it and every time he dropped something, we said 'oh dear'.

It took some time and on Saturday we were in a shop, which was full of customers, but very quiet and he dropped a packet of Christmas Cards he was holding - my DH and I held our breath and looked at each other and he said 'oh dear'!! Phew!!