What to do if a child swears bad words?

A long time ago, about 5 years ago, my daughter and I passed by neighbors on the porch. And then I hear… (obscene) «Oh, horror!» — I think. How does my 1.5-year-old child know such words. We are a decent family, swearing in front of a child is prohibited. I racked my brain where I got it. It turned out that the reaction was to the cat. Yes, she just saw a cat sitting on the windowsill and was shocked, in her own way! And this word stuck in her vocabulary for five months. It’s good that it’s all over. But there was a lot to paint.

However, there are cases, and very often, when a child really hears enough in kindergarten, at school, from older children, somewhere on the street by chance, bad words, and then brings them home and shares them with loved ones with joy or not.

In general, according to psychologists, children involuntarily remember and repeat everything that is said, is happening around them. And up to 4-5 years they do not realize the difference between good and bad words.

The main reasons for obscene expressions are:

• copying the behavior of others;
• norms accepted in a certain society (with friends, at school, family, etc.);
• as an opportunity to draw attention to yourself.

How to respond to the «undesirable» vocabulary of the child?

You can not ignore, and panic too. Anger and irritation also do not help. It is necessary to calmly explain to the child that it is not good to pronounce these words, while indicating that this is what the family charter says. Offer him an alternative, how can you say / what can be replaced, tk. not always the child can find the right words to express their emotions. A distraction is great for kids. Try to switch the child’s attention to something more important and interesting.

Note, in short:

— do not use swear words in front of children;
— if it suddenly happened, and you heard something bad, do not scold or punish the child;
— explain with what words the child can replace the curse;
— we do not draw attention, we redirect the child’s interest for the better.