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Anonymous Member
  anonymous | June 2006

Name-Calling

My children, ages seven, six and four have taken to name-calling. They call each other, "stupd, dumbdumb, idiot" and the like when they get angry and frustrated. Latley, I have been very strict with them- giving them time-outs whenever I hear this kind of language and talking to them about how it is disrespectful and giving them alternatives ("I'm angry") to say instead. I was just wondering if anyone had any other solutions- perhaps ones that were less punitive than giving an automatic time-out that I prefer to reserve for bigger issues, such as hitting. Any suggestions would be helpful! Thanks!

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upinchina
4.10 (Good) | June 2006 | upinchina
alternatives to timeouts

It sounds like your kids are a bit older than my toddlers so I am going purely on instinct here not experience. First I would ask what is making them frustrated at that moment and to verbalize it, like, "I didn't like it that you took my toy away, that's not nice..." If the bad name calling persists, take away things that are dear to them for the day.  If they are old enough, I may also do like a bad word jar where you can put chores on a pieces of paper and if they use a bad name they have to pick one, it could work for you too because moms and dads make mistakes too!



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BusyMom
3.87 (Good) | June 2006 | BusyMom
Name Calling
When my kids went through that phase, I figured out that some of the names were coming from otherwise OK TV shows (Sponge Bob was a big culprit). I'm not a hard core TV limiter, but, we had to get rid of a couple of the shows for a while.

I always tell them that they shouldn't ever call anyone a "name like that, especially someone in our family". The "shock and sadness" I registered usually got their attention.


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mewannaboy
3.81 (Good) | June 2006 | mewannaboy
name calling

my children are older and do the same. but i started to call them back names with funny overtones they end up laughing at it rather than continuing the names. I say "your a fruity chicken face" or " listen here chicken legs" my kids eend up saying "thats stupid dont talk like that" so i tell them they sound just as silly with the names they call each other at present.sometimes it doesnt work but if it takes away from the more nasty and evil alternative its worth a try.



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mcm
3.85 (Good) | June 2006 | mcm
Respect
I think you are doing well- teaching them to respect each other. If they respect each other they may stop the name calling. I don't really think they are trying to be mean - as you say they just get angry and frustrated. At their ages they are probably being influenced by others outside the home. I can only recommend that you keep teaching them to respect one another, trying to be patient and taking notice of when they speak positively to each other. Reward when they are polite and talk sweetly. I have found my girl loves to 'show off' and show me how nice she can be to her younger brothers.


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