Soap was surprisingly gross!

Who here still washes their kid's mouths out with soap when they say a "bad word"?? I remember it happening to me once as a child... I never said another word I wasn't supposed to say again! Soap, was, and still is, surprisingly GROSS!!!

My little one just turned five last month, pictures of party decor are coming soon! :) 
But ever since then she's been severely testing the waters lately to see what she can get away with now that she's five... She's slowly learning that it's pretty much nothing! About a week after turning the year older she informed me that since she was five now she could say "cuss words". I quickly informed her of her mistaken thought, but since then she has said TWO!!!! TWO dirty, foul, awful, words that no five-year-old should know, much less say! 
The first incident we had a long discussion of why that word wasn't to be said, along with other words that she knows not to say. And today she used another word!!! A different word.... A much, much more foul word!! Ugh... 
I'm beginning to wonder if she's hearing these things at school. We watch out language around her and I have no idea where she would have heard that she could say cuss words now that she's five except school.

I pulled this little excerpt from: When Young Children Use Profanity: How to Handle Cursing and Name Calling written by Timothy Jay, Ph. D.

The ABCs of Cursing
If you have established why the child cursed, you have established the antecedentconditions (i.e., cause). Antecedent is the A in ABC. Behavior is the B in ABC. Address the behavior itself-that is, the word(s) used. Did you hear mild speech (e.g., doo-doo head) or offensive speech (e.g., shit head)? Offensive language should result in more immediate and severe consequences than milder language. Consequences usually means applying behavior modification techniques (discussed later in this article).
 
To eliminate cursing and bad language, treat each cursing episode with the ABCs. Be consistent with all children at all times. Act quickly when cursing occurs and deal directly with the child who used the bad language.

I like this, I think this could be a great start to handling a situation like this. It makes sense and maybe could stop the profane speech quickly. But... Next time there will be soap! (There better not be a next time! :D)

You can check out the rest of the article on children using profanity here: Children and Profanity

-Stephanie