Foul Words

Children seldom misquote you.  They more often repeat word for word what you shouldn't have said ~ Mae Maloo

Little Spanish Pinay has been working on her language these days and her eagerness to talk is very noticeable.  She even starts to repeat the words we say and then we enter into a non-stop exchanges of the same word.  Most of the words she says though is still not recognizable and sometimes it might sound like a certain word but I don't reallly think that is what actually she would want to say.

One day while she was "reading" her book with her nanny, she uttered a word that sounds like "c0ñ0". (I changed the letter o's to zero as I don't want this article to be included on the adult websites).  That word is used as a curse word here in Spain and it literally means that private part of the woman in quite a vulgar way.  When Little Spanish Pinay seemingly said this, the nanny told her.  "What did you just say? c0ñ0??... Did you say c0ñ0?".  And that made me jump from my seat while I was working and told the nanny not to repeat the word.  First, I don't think that's what Little Spanish Pinay actually said even though it sounded like that and by repeating it, she's just trying to teach the word to the little girl.  It's really no biggie - as Little Spanish Pinay is still really young, doesn't have the concept of words vulgarity yet and that she's still experimenting on her sounds so some words that she probably already know may sound different when they come out from her mouth.

But it made me ponder about kids learning foul words and how a parent should deal with it.  Sad to say, there are kids - including very young ones who enjoy saying foul words and the worst is that there are parents who enjoy hearing their kids saying these bad words even using them to insult other kids or people.  Shame on these parents.

As for me, I would do my best to educate LSP into understanding why these words shouldn't be used. But at this period, there's really nothing to worry yet.  At a very young age, what I believe is that parents shouldn't react when the child says a certain foul word.  Chances are all the more that they'd like the word and would keep repeating it - because mommy's or daddy's reaction is fun.  So what can be done is divert their attention to probably another intersting word to learn and make it even more fun to repeat this word.

Then as the kid grows and understands more of the reasonings, then we can start instilling to them why a certain word shouldn't be said.  Of course the most important thing is to set a good example to them... and not hear these words at home.   It will be alsmot impossible for them to not hear these words when they start to really go out the world and meet other kids or adult so it is crucial to develop a good foundation on our kids about respect and being proper on choosing their words.

What about those parents with older kids now? Have you experienced hearing them say foul words? How did you deal with it?