Breaking Bad Habits Is Never An Easy Task

     Let me start off by saying I have two children: Malakai, who is four and Myrissa, who is two. They attend a Christian preschool or daycare all day while I am at work.  I feel preschool is great for them because they learn many things and prepare for Kindergarten.  Malakai is in a class with twelve other children. The majority of his class is boys, which is never a good thing. Myrissa is in the Toddler and Two’s class with eight other children and the ratio of boys and girls is fairly equal. 

     The drawback to preschool is that my children have learned some bad things. I know this happens all the time when children begin to be around each other every day. I know it is hard to control what comes out of a child’s mouth when the preschool teachers can only control what goes on while attending preschool, not when the child is at home with his or her parents.

     Malakai has started saying the word “fart” all the time.  He uses it in substitution for almost every word. For example, he will say, “My fart hurts,” or “I want a fart for dinner.”  He will also make a fart noise and say, “Oh disgusting! I farted!”  I do not consider this word a bad word, but I feel it is not appropriate for him to say.  When I say he acts like this all the time, I mean all the time! It is so annoying and frustrating whenever the children and I go out in public and he gets going on his language and actions. For a while, I had an issue with Malakai getting spanked by other children and him spanking other children. This situation finally blew up when Malakai spanked a child’s mother who was bent over in the hallway at the preschool. I had had it with his actions and he was harshly reprimanded. As soon as that event ended was when he began acting the way he does currently. 

     Malakai went to his best friend’s birthday party last weekend at the House of Bounce.  I have never heard “fart” some many times in my entire life! I was very frustrated.  The reason I become so angry is because he gets in trouble every day at preschool for saying that word. I am sure other children get in trouble also but most of the time it seems like he is the only child that is disciplined for his actions. We, (my husband and I), try very hard at home to break his new habit.  When he acts like this at home we constantly tell him that “fart” is an ugly word and to not say it, but when he laughs and continues to say it I become very angry. When Malakai speaks and acts in a bad manner, his sister also repeats everything he says. All I can think is, “Great, now I have two children talking and acting horribly.”  I wish this habit would have never formed, but what can I do about it now?  It is a shame that there is nothing else he can do to take his mind off of constantly having the urge to say this word.

     As he completes his final year of preschool, I pray he grows out of this habit. I continue to hope that one day he will just say, “Okay mom, I won’t say those bad words anymore,” but I know that is just a dream.  I would love to have advice from anyone who knows what to do in order to solve this problem.