If your child starts swearing, it can be hard to know how to stop it. Swearing is a common behaviour in older children and young people, but young children sometimes swear too.
For some families, swearing is just a normal way of speaking. In others, it’s completely unacceptable behaviour. You may feel you fit somewhere in between these extremes.
There are lots of reasons behind your child swearing. Understanding why they do it can help you decide the best ways to deal with the behaviour.
They could be:
Children may not understand the particular meaning behind a word, but they do understand from an early age that words can hurt.
Avoid labelling swearing as simply ‘bad’ or ‘naughty’. Instead, focus on how it made you feel when they swore.
You could say, “When you said xxx, I felt xxx,” so your child understands the impact of what they say on others.
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