Words that Sound Worse Coming From a Child
Oh God!
That is Jude’s current favorite phrase.
It started as “Oh Gosh” but that Gosh rapidly evolved to God.
“Oh Gosh” was cute but “Oh God” made me cringe.
I’m not sure where he picked up either of the phrases. I don’t think I use either of them but it only takes one time for kids to repeat a phrase.
Immediately Joe and I reprimanded Jude and told him that “Oh God” was not nice to say. But he continued. I know he doesn’t understand the concept of bad words. And Joe and I try very hard to watch what we say around the kids knowing they will repeat anything. But I kept trying to explain that there were words that were nice and words that were not. I don’t think it clicked. He didn’t understand why some words were bad and others weren’t. So I offered up a few alternatives like “Oh Man” or “My Goodness”. (I’ve learn that instead of telling kids to just not do something you need to offer them an alternative – this rule applies to most anything: dangerous situations, bad words, fighting over a toy…) He quickly adjusted to these phrases but has slipped up a few times at which point he quickly turns and looks at me to see if I noticed. I give him my stern mom face and he says sorry then corrects himself to say “Oh Man”.
I don’t consider myself to be super strict about bad words. I know some parents that consider poop and penis bad words. To me that’s just what those things are called. Boys have a penis and everybody poops. Nevertheless, I want my children to be respectful and stay innocent as long as possible.
Its funny how phrases like Oh God, Crap, Stupid or Dumb don’t sound that bad coming from the mouth of an adult but sound horrible when innocent little children speak them.
How do you deal with bad language from your kids?
