3 1/2 Year Old with "Potty" Mouth

Ask him how the poopy tastes and laugh. He's three, poop is funny stuff. He isnt going on his first date asking the girl if she wants poopy for dinner. Dont worry so much. By the way, farts and boogers are next.

Annoying, isn't it?
I think all kids naturally go through stages where they do this sort of thing. What we did was just let ours know that we didn't care to hear about it. For example, if my daughter said something like "I want poopy for Christmas", I might respond in a couple of ways... "Really? I wouldn't. That is yucky." or perhaps "I don't like hearing you say things like that. That isn't what you really want to receive. What about the __ that you liked last week?" Eventually, he will get tired of it. If it seems to be taking WAAAY too long for him to tire of it, then you can be more direct about it: "I don't really want to hear about poopy unless you need some help with the potty". That is what finally seemed to help the most at our house.

That way, you are not telling him the word is bad (it isn't), but that there are appropriate times (and inappropriate times) to be using it.

A few months ago a mom posted a situation where her son was being disciplined at preschool for continually shaking his bottom dancing and saying "booty" over and over. There were responses all over the map from moms who saw nothing wrong with it to folks who thought he should be really punished, to moms who said to remove the child from the school and find another. Seems to me the best way to avoid such problems in the future, is to teach them that not EVERYTHING is appropriate at ALL times. That is the way I would approach your son with this. "Poopy" isn't bad, but it isn't always appropriate to talk about or make jokes about. Teaching our kids self control is one of our most important jobs.

Good luck mama. :)

I know some people say that you should try to ignore "attention seeking behaviors" but I don't agree. Especially in public. If he heard the "f" word somewhere, I'm guessing you wouldn't let him get away with saying that, either. Yes, "poopy" is much less offensive, but if you don't like it and you are embarassed by it in public, then it's just as bad. He is old enough to understand that you don't like it when he says that, just like you wouldn't like it if he said you were stupid or said he hates you. Decide what is acceptable to you (every family is different) and explain to him when and where it would be OK (if ever) to say poopy. Then once the rules are established, no warning-- immediate consequence so he knows you mean business and he will stop testing you.

On a side note, poopy is a hilarious word in my house. My 3, 10, and 11 year olds use it a lot and I don't mind. But that's our family and everyone should be able to set limits on what is acceptable to them. My kids are not allowed to called each other "poopyhead" because that is a personal insult, but saying the word poopy in general in a sentence to be silly is fine with me.

I have a daughter... she is 7 now. She still things "poop" is funny :-) Not as often, and ... she doesn't do it in public anymore because she's old enough to realize that it's not acceptable. I say just keep telling him it's not appropriate, maybe do time outs if you feel it's necessary. But they are kids.... and he'll grow out of it I believe... Good luck:)

I have the EXACT same problem with my 3 1/2 yr old son and his best buddy who is 4 1/2 does it as well. What has worked for us is telling him that from now on we will consider those words "bad words." And he is not to say them like that outside of the house anymore. They are only for at home. He also gets time outs for it. Thankfully at this age they are capable of knowing the difference between a bad word and a good word and outside of the house and inside the house.
It is a boy thing... even grown up boys find these things funny. LOL My husband sometimes has to hold back laughter at it! :)
We also had to do the same thing because he kept calling my husband and I liars. I have no idea where he got that from? And sometimes tells people, "I'm not your friend anymore!" When they won't do what he wants them to do. Those things are also now bad words. He kept hurting his friend's feelings.

I think every boy goes through the "poopy" talk stage!! I was like you and couldn't believe it the first time I heard it. I also noticed that it got worse when he was around the kids that their parents didn't care as much!!!

My solution - I took the nice and easy route at first. Telling him no "poopy" talk young man! Then I went to taking something away every time he said something remotely close to "poopy" talk (they even came up with dirty diaper and all sorts of grouse stuff!). The last straw was when I was at the grocery store and he said something loud enough for the cashier to hear and I was completely embarrassed! When we got home, I put a shot of hot sauce in his mouth (I figured it was less chemical than putting soap in his mouth) and made him stand there. Now, he most certainly thinks twice before he says something!! He knows I will do it again and actually have a few times since then.

Good luck and know that I believe that it is just a boy thing - not that I condone it in any way what so every - but boys all the same.

for some reason i guess they get into that at that age my great nephew does it and he is 5.he will say here eat my poopy and hold out his empty hand.and the more laughs they get for it the more they will do it. si try not to laugh when he does it --just say no no that is not nice we do not say thoese kind of things.

A child psychologist that I recently spoke to about issues like this suggested that you find a way to take the fun out of the offending behavior. It sounds like your little one is smart enough to know that he can get a rise out of you when he mentions that word, so maybe find a way to avoid it. Another suggestion would be that when you do respond verbally to that word, use as few words as possible in your response, and then drop the issue. I.e., "don't say poopy" and then immediately change the subject or distract him.

I've got a 3 year-old myself and have been trying some of these techniques to address some behaviors, too. It's slow going to get to your goal, I know. I wish you well!

First, he will outgrow it. It gets a reaction from you.
You can ask : well, what does that mean?
He'll probably say "I don't know"

I have 2 boys and both seemed to have gone through this stage. So we go over which words are appropriate in which rooms. So we don't consider poop a bad word, just a word that is only allowed to be said in a bathroom. When we are in the bathroom they may say it as many times as they want and they say it a lot when we are in there. I agree with other mamas that they do think its a funny word. Sometimes they go into the bathroom just so they can say it.

If it is said outside of the bathroom, then its a warning, then time-out and follows all the other discipline cycles. The only exception is if they need to tell us that they need to go and it is only allowed to be done as a "secret" word whispered in our ear. Secrets -- another thing they seem to love to have.

Hope this helps...

I really don't know what to tell you, except that it's not just little boys that think "poop" is a funny word. My daughter is also in school and almost 3 1/2 and she's been talking about "poop" a lot for the last month or so. She thinks it's so funny and will start laughing hysterically sometimes when she talks about it.

A few weeks ago my daughter spent the night with the inlaws and apparently she started talking about poop over there. My husband and I actually got a good laugh out of hearing about it because my mother-in-law was extremely disgusted by it. She won't even say the word "poop" at all (she spelled it out when she told us what happened). You would figure that since she had 4 kids of her own and 5 grandkids (4 of them older than my daughter) that she would understand that kids this age just think it's funny to talk about. She was completely shocked and I think the more she tried to convince my daughter not to say the word, the more she actually said it because she knew it was bothering grandma.

I haven't tried it, but I've read about some parents explaining to their kids that "potty" talk is only allowed in the bathroom and they make their child go in the bathroom every time they talk about it. Apparently the thrill wears off pretty quickly if they have to go in the bathroom and they don't have an audience. My husband and I just try to ignore it a lot of the time and sometimes we tell our daughter that it's yucky to talk about. If it doesn't start to wear off soon then I may start making her go in the bathroom every time she talks about it to see if that works for us.

Good luck. Hope we can both get through this phase quickly. :)