I’m a mum-of-three – what to do if your child curses and why a swear jar never works
IT'S a tried and tested method relied on by many parents.
But one mum has explained why swear jars just don't work, and it's all down to confusing boundaries.
Margaret Ables is a mum-of-three, and opened up about how she's dealt with her kids swearing on her podcast
She said: "I don’t recommend blank facing and ignoring swearing because I think it becomes just pushing those boundaries.
"In my house it goes like this: Kid swears, and I might say, ‘We don’t swear in this house and I don’t want to hear another swear word'."
Then the mum will tell her children: "If I hear another swear word tonight you’re off of screens for the rest of the day."
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However, she doesn't leave it like that, but talks to her children saying: "Are you expressing something that you had a particular kind of a day?
"Are you expressing frustration?
"Let’s have a talk about that but we’re not doing it with swear words."
She added that she does her best not to react when one of her kids swears, but does apply a consequence.
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But that consequence will never be a swear jar in her house.
She admitted: "It works for some people.
"But I just find again that it feels to me like a negotiation that I don’t want to be in with my kids.
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"And it feels a little bit like we’re letting it in and then we have to put parameters around it.
"For me, the easiest tactic has been, this is not allowed - this is the consequence."