"Say What?"

With a toddler who is really beginning to develop his vocabulary, I have become increasingly aware of how the slightest bad choice of words can influence him. From the time he was small, we read plenty of books, talked about names for different farm animals, pets, household objects, articles of clothing and parts of the body. We even labeled more common words around the house by taping index cards to them with the word printed out such as bathtub, floor, refrigerator, you get the point.

We have been ever amazed at the genius of our little one's speech, as I am sure every parent is. Then, maybe like you, one day it happens. The word that you can only type using crazy symbols, and you look at your husband and say, “What did he just say?” These do not even have to be four letters necessarily, these are also words like stupid and shut-up. The kinds of words that you cringe at the sound of kids using and pray that your child is never overheard using them to make it seem like you have a house with out of control vocabulary.

At first, we think, it's impossible. He rarely watches TV and when he does it is not any kind of show that would talk in these terms. I think back to worrying about commercials , but know that these words are also not used there.

Then I really start paying attention to my surroundings. Any place we go with our kids, whether it be a family member's house or a public area, there are random words being thrown around in casual conversation. There may also be things on the TV that we would not normally show in our house that he is being exposed to, even for a few moments. Guess what, your child is listening with full attention.

I know that in some situations I have addressed it before we go somewhere. I let him know that he may see and hear things that are not okay. Just because someone else is doing it, it does not make it okay. Sometimes we debrief afterward or if we hear it in context at home, we address it right there. In any case we explain why it is not okay in terms he can understand and that he will receive a punishment if he uses it. How do you handle this situation?