Need help on how to curb cussing

[2daughters]

My 4 year old cusses worse than a sailor when she gets really angry. I have tried so many things to get her to stop, but nothing seems to be working. I've had the cuss jar out, which finished my rare swearing, and I've tried a reward system. I've also tried talking to her about it and giving her other words to use instead. Fortunately she only seems to swear while at home, but I'd like to see her stop completely. Nobody in the house swears at all anymore - which has been a feat these last couple days with bashing thumbs with hammers (building a shed).

Thanks in advance.

 

[SRL]

There's a thread in the Early Childhood Archives that might be of help to you:
http://www.conductdisorders.com/forum/showthread.php?t=726

 

[ivas611]

We used mustard or vinegar. My sisterin law who cares for him when we are at work used taco sauce. This worked for a little while then we switched to red pepper flakes. We put one flake on his tounge and we did not have a problem again. If he slipped, we showed him the bottle and it has not happened again.

 

[lmf64]

I would caution against using anything hot to teach your child not to swear. Causing the child pain, however little pain you think it is, can be considered child abuse and you can be convicted of it if there is enough evidence of long term/repeated use of this type of punishment.
What I did with my son, I'm pretty sure I heard about it here, was to make him brush his teeth. I told him that using inappropriate language made his mouth dirty and if his mouth was dirty he needed to brush his teeth. AND then I'd escort him to the bathroom to brush his teeth. It only took a couple of days of making about 10 trips to the bathroom to brush his teeth to make it sink into his hard head that he shouldn't say those words around Mom. I carried on with having him brush his teeth for inappropriate language to include anything I was tired of hearing. All I had to say was do you need to brush your teeth to put an end to whatever he was going on about. I wish it still worked but since he's 6 feet tall and weighs 250 he knows I can physically make him brush his teeth anymore.
I also used this with a few other kids and it worked with all of them. One of the children is 12 now and when I recently ran into him he remembered me because I was the one who made him brush his teeth. His dad told me that to this day he won't swear around adults at least.

 

[ivas611]

Before we had done any disipline or behavior plan we checked with his school social worker and our family therapist, as we were concerned about being brought up charges. With any thing there are limits but it was not illegal.