# Please help me get my 4 year old to stop saying "poop" for everything!!!



## lachingona1 (May 16, 2007)

DD learned it from her 6 y/o cousin. We haven't let her be around him because of his behaviors for the past several months. We went camping 2 months ago and my brother and sil came also. We thought maybe he outgrew some of his ridiculous behaviors but apparently not.

So it is "poop" or "poo poo" for everything! She will now sing a Bocelli song but replace the words with poop. Or when she is mad she'll say "bad poo poo mommy" EVERYTHING is poop! Whether she is happy or mad.

We ignored it for the first few days she was saying it then I would take her outside and show her a pile of our dogs poop and tell her how inappropriate it is to say that her sister or whatever is "poop" when this is what it is etc. It has been 2 months and she does it more than ever. DH and I are getting mad every time we hear it, we don't know how to handle it.

I am 5 weeks preggo and extremely irritable, so hearing everything is poop 25 times a day, is really pushing it


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## KoalaMommy (Apr 7, 2004)

We have a few phrases like that.







: I calmly say "we don't use words bathroom words outside the bathroom." and walk away. I don't make a big deal about it, I don't give excess attention, I don't get visibly upset. It seems to work better than other things I've tried.


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## Nolamom (Jan 29, 2008)

My dd went through this phase. For about 4-5 months, everything was "poop" followed by a giggle. After trying unsuccessfully to stop it, we just ignored it. It eventually went away. I wish I had a tip for you, but we just had to wait it out. Good luck!


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## 4evermom (Feb 3, 2005)

Welcome to age 4.









I know it's annoying, it's just that I'm dealing with language that is so much worse.









Anyway, ignoring seems to work best. Anything else just turns the word into a "power" word (as my ds calls them).


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## VijayOwens (Aug 26, 2006)

I am a baaad person to ask for this sort of help because my husband actually wrote a SONG about poop. It goes like this (DD age 5 has to help, it's a two person song).

DH: "Well I wake up in the morning and I start ta yawn and then I
DD: POOP!
DH: Then I go to work, and then I come home for lunch, and I get the hunch to...
DD: POOP!
DH: Then I come on home and I start to moan and then I
DD: POOP!
DH: Poop poop poop-poop poop (to "shave and a haircut")
DD: POOP POOP!

The novelty will wear off. You can't stop them, but maybe you can find a strategy to take the edge off for you. Earplugs? Chocolate?

Hugs,

-Vijay


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## cedoreilly (May 21, 2005)

UGGHH! We the same problem with my 3.5 year old. He picked up from his big brother's friends playing with them after pre-school last May. I am pretty sure it is a reaction thing because he will go for a while not using it and then all of a sudden go crazy with it (mostly calling his baby brother poopy head). For the most part, I am trying to ignore it but when he is saying it in public, I have to say something. Weird thing is I asked his teacher at school if it was an issue there and she told me no.


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## lovemyfamily6 (Dec 27, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *VijayOwens* 
I am a baaad person to ask for this sort of help because my husband actually wrote a SONG about poop. It goes like this (DD age 5 has to help, it's a two person song).

DH: "Well I wake up in the morning and I start ta yawn and then I
DD: POOP!
DH: Then I go to work, and then I come home for lunch, and I get the hunch to...
DD: POOP!
DH: Then I come on home and I start to moan and then I
DD: POOP!
DH: Poop poop poop-poop poop (to "shave and a haircut")
DD: POOP POOP!

The novelty will wear off. You can't stop them, but maybe you can find a strategy to take the edge off for you. Earplugs? Chocolate?

Hugs,

-Vijay











I really doubt it is the cousin's fault. He may have said it and she heard it but it would most likely have happened anyway. I've just accepted it. I have four boys. Poop is funny. Tooting is funny. Even my 17 month old laughs when he toots. I've told them I don't want them saying it in the kitchen and not when they're with people outside of our family. They're fine with it and say it to their hearts content but are great about remembering when to stop.

My boys tell poop jokes.

How did the poopy butt get across the river?

He rode on a pooper-tooter boat.














:

If it really truly bothers you, I'd just ignore it. I wouldn't draw attention to it at all. For us, it's just one of those things that I think is universally funny to kids, no matter what their upbringing or who they're around (I'm not aware of anyone talking about poop or saying it and laughing or anything but when my oldest was 3, it became hilarious, then little brothers followed suit), it just is what it is.

I may have called my children poopy butts this afternoon in an effort to get silly and head off a struggle that was coming. They laughed like I was the world's best comedian.


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## wrzos (Jan 15, 2005)

We are in the midst of this now - and I'm using the potty talk belongs in the bathroom argument as well. Seems to be slowing it down some...


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## MotheringHeart (Dec 18, 2005)

We do the ignore it strategy. And the please keep potty talk in the bathroom strategy.

I did have to have a talk with DS though, when he was saying "da%n it" about how those are words for when we are really upset (not just for when we can't find the reusable grocery bags) and that he will get in serious trouble at school for repeating it.

I really should keep a better hold on my tounge!


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## mogit (May 4, 2004)

My ds went through a similar phase when he started Kindergarten. At that age, he was still talking incessantly, and his amazing, adult-like vocabulary and syntax were replaced almost entirely by two words: poop and poot. I found it maddening, too.

I realized DS was really driven to try out these exciting new words, though, so I couldn't ban them outright. Instead, I came up with two rules: not at the table, and not in public. Then DS and I together came up with a private signal he could use at those times he couldn't use the actual words: he would click his teeth together, and I would lay my finger by the side of my nose to let him know that I knew what he was "saying."

This method actually worked well and took the edge off the situation for both of us. I can't say it eliminated the words entirely, though. There will always be older kids supplying new words (and teachers assigning "Captain Underpants" books







). DS is 7 now, and he passes along his new vocabulary to DD, who is almost 4. The other day in the car, the two of them were laughing over the latest potty talk, and I heard DS telll DD, "We'd better get it out of our systems now, because we are almost to the store"!


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## maryeb (Aug 8, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *VijayOwens* 
I am a baaad person to ask for this sort of help because my husband actually wrote a SONG about poop. It goes like this (DD age 5 has to help, it's a two person song).

DH: "Well I wake up in the morning and I start ta yawn and then I
DD: POOP!
DH: Then I go to work, and then I come home for lunch, and I get the hunch to...
DD: POOP!
DH: Then I come on home and I start to moan and then I
DD: POOP!
DH: Poop poop poop-poop poop (to "shave and a haircut")
DD: POOP POOP!

The novelty will wear off. You can't stop them, but maybe you can find a strategy to take the edge off for you. Earplugs? Chocolate?

Hugs,

-Vijay









:
Yes! So my dh isn't the only one also making up songs about poop!! Seriously! He made up a song about it, it's more like a rap, but he was like, 12 when he did it. Anyway he has taught it to ds. Oy. Everything is poop these days. I let it go and go along with it. I'm sure someday it will end. I remember my nephews doing it too, seems pretty natural. Good luck coping mama!


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## 4Marmalade (May 4, 2004)

We're all about the poop and butt stuff here as well. Ds (6) has brought it home from kindergarten - yay







!! I tend to ignore it mostly. I do ask that it not be used at the dinner table or used in a name calling way. It's not a huge deal - after all, we have two 4-month olds who are poop machines and we've all been guilty of laughing when we hear one of those baby poop explosions echo throughout the house







.

My ds also came home with this "song" which he learned on the bus.

Beans, beans, are good for your heart.
Beans, beans, they make you fart!

He was a little heartbroken when I said I had heard it before. That one has been around for a while!


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## mistymama (Oct 12, 2004)

Ah, poop jokes!

DS thinks they are hilarious. And I don't mind unless it's all the time. So I do put limitations on it .. no potty jokes outside the family, or at school. And if he goes overboard at home, I'll say enough.

But most of the time, I joke with him. Like yesterday we were mixing food coloring to make halloween icing. He mixed up this awful brown color and asked me what it looked like .. I said, POOP. And we both got tickled.

So maybe I have the humor of a 5 year old.


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## christiab (Jan 13, 2004)

At our house, it is poopy underwear. As in "Daddy likes to wear.... poopy underwear" sung over and over and over. He has also mastered burping on command. He will say excuse me, but it is still 5 minutes of one burp after another. DELIGHTFUL!!!


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## emelsea (Jun 21, 2005)

I've taken the "bathroom talk belongs in the bathroom" route, too.

This week we were in Micheals and he made some poop comment, so I just turned around and started walking to the back of the store. He asked me where we were going and I said (very casually) "Oh! I thought you needed to use the potty! You were using potty talk."

It's slowed it down a little, but I don't think anything will stop it completely. He's a boy, and in my experience, boys just find that kind of stuff funny.


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## meemee (Mar 30, 2005)

so this was the song my dd wrote for a friends 25th birthday potty mouth party when she was 4.

twinkle twinkle poopy star
how i wonder how you fart
up above the poop so high
like a peeing farting poop

needless to say she got the loudest ovation and won the crown for the best poem.

of course for the 25 year old the word 'potty mouth' meant a whoooooole different thing.

this is what has worked for my friend. she is ok with it but not his dad. so he uses them around his mom but not around his dad. it toook a whole lot of time to happen. his dad and mom kept on repeating it for months before he finally said it rarely in front of his dad.

they are both 6 years old and its still about toot, fart, pee and poop.


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## Graceoc (Mar 26, 2002)

oh goodness, we have have a poopy mouth here too....he thinks it is the funniest thing EVER....and his older siblings don't help the cause when they egg him on. Oh well, we just roll with it LOL!


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## firewoman (Feb 2, 2008)

hehehehe









For some reason at my house it is all about catpoop. It seems the whole poop thing is pretty normal, however, I know some people are more sensitive to it than others. I realize that my kids won't be saying it past a certain age, but my very best girlfriend would not be okay with poop talk EVER. We don't allow the potty talk at the dinnertable but when they are playing in the play room, it really doesn't bother us. To each his own. I agree that if you really hate it just tell her to go in another room if she wants to speak that way.


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## lachingona1 (May 16, 2007)

Thanks for the replies!

DD has not been saying it much at all! I have been telling her to please keep potty talk in the bathroom.


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