Type-A Mom has a new look! Check out the new site! We're also hiring writers!

At the moment my two boys, aged 5 and 7 have an obsession with mucky words. Don´t get me wrong, these are not words of the adult 4 letter variety, although coincidentally many of them do seem to be 4 letter words, but words of the juvenile “bodily function” type! Subscribe to Type-A Mom articles

(2262 bytes)

Even worse, as we live in Spain and they are bi-lingual, I now get dirty words in both languages, and they come back from school saying stuff that you won´t find in your English – Spanish dictionary!

I have tried almost every strategy I can think of to stop them from doing this, but the problem still persists. If anyone out there has other ideas ( short of taping their mouths closed, not matter how tempting that may seem!) , I´m open to ideas.

Here are some of the strategies I have tried with varying degrees of success:

• Allowing them to say it as many times as they want. This worked with my older boy, who when made to stand in his room and repeat the dreaded “poo” word over and over soon became bored and apologised. Not so little brother, who thought this was a great game and had fits of giggles , managing at least 1000 repetitions before he stopped!

• Stopping pocket money. Again,worked better with my older boy, who is more aware of what he can actually buy with his allowance. Try keeping this up for too long, though, it is really hard on the parents. Boy did I feel like a bad guy!

• Ignoring them. This one works best with my little one. If I say something like “ Sorry Alex, Mommy doesn´t want to listen to that, so I´m going into the next room and don´t want to play with you”. He hates this, and being ignored produces a “No mommy I will be good” response. Trouble is , it just doesn´t last.

• Withdrawing “big boy” priveledges, such as staying up late, or going out on bikes, or renting a new movie. The logic is, if you want to behave like a baby, then you get treated like one. Works best with my older boy, who loves to go out on his bike with his friends.

I do remember my own mom threatening the “I´ll wash you mouth out with soap and water” and on at least one occasion she did just that, but for me it seems really a bit over the top! I wonder if it worked on me though?? For now I just try to put up with it and manage it on a daily basis, depending on the kids moods. When they get silly and giggly there is just no reasoning with them. For certain they will grow out of it..... just in time to grow into using 4 letter words of the worse variety I expect! Such is life...