Great social skills include good manners. Good manners include proper words. Inside you'll find 3 parenting tips for ending potty talk including one that builds character with laughter.
This Social Skill Problem is from Jennifer:
Hearty laughter is like sunshine among kids. If you're a parent like Jennifer,
you might not agree. Jennifer wrote that her 7 year-old-daughter gets her friends to giggle with potty talk. This is such a common problem. What can you, Jennifer,and other parents do to end the potty talk and build character too?
First Parenting Tip for Ending Potty Talk:
Pretend you are Jennifer. You could put your daughter in Time Out. She's 7, so 7 minutes should do. When Time Out is over, ask her what she said that was wrong. If she answers correctly, you could say, "Yes," and let her go. No lectures! No yelling! No nagging!
Second Parenting Tip for Ending Potty Talk:
When your daughter potty talks, ask her, "Which privilege do you want to lose?" If she answers, "I can't play with friends for the rest of the day," you'd need to agree with her suggestion before using it. Next, you'd need to follow through by taking away the privilege.
Third Parenting Tip for Ending Potty Talk:
When your child has a behavior problem, a good question to ask is, "What is my child gaining from this negative behavior?" Jennifer, the wise mother that she is, already knew. She wrote that her daughter got attention and giggles from her friends when using potty talk.
The second question to ask is, "How can my child get attention and giggles without the potty talk?
Brainstorm some answers. For instance, you might take your child to the library and have her check out a joke book. Then have fun times practicing the jokes. You might ask her to share a joke each night at the family dinner, with her classmates, and with her friends.
Social Skills Conclusion:
Consider using the above tips separately or all 3 together. For instance, Time Out is easy to use at home. Losing a privilege is easy both at home and away from home. Of course, checking out joke books from the library is a fun way to learn new clean humor. Practicing clean jokes create happy times with your daughter, the family, and her friends too.
Funny people add sunshine to our lives. Getting others to laugh with good clean humor is an excellent social skill to teach your kids. It builds character too.
Resource Box:________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Jean Tracy, MSS publishes a Free Parenting Newsletter. Subscribe at http://www.KidsDiscuss.com and receive 80 fun activities to share with your kids.
Treat your kids to the Social Skills Kit for Kids at http://www.kidsdiscuss.com/parent_resource_center.asp?pr_id=kd011
If you liked the above tips, pick up our Free Parenting Tips - 21 of the Best at http://www.kidsdiscuss.com/contact.asp You’ll find them at the top of the page.
(August 2007) (
