What to do when your own child uses bad words?

[MonkeyPrincess]

I was reading another post about a daycare child who swears and uses the right context. But what do you do when your own child uses bad words? My 4 yr old doesn't swear and never has (knock on wood ) but she does use the words stupid, idiot, nuts, balls, etc. I know she gets it from my 7 yr old, who in turn gets it from his friends. I have spoken to my son a few times about using the right words, being polite, not to be vulgar etc. I try to be mindful of how I speak around the the kids (my own and the DC kids) and i NEVER swear around them.

It really irks me, especially when she tells her brother "you're an idiot" and she says "stupid" around the other kids. She shouldn't be talking like that at all. I have placed her in time out, sent her to her room and I always tell her that she can't play with her daycare friends if she isn't speaking nicely. Besides, I am afraid the parents are going to think i talk like that! We sometimes visit with a neighbor who has kids the same ages as my kids and their 4 yr old even told me that my daughter has called her stupid Oh man, I apologized to the child and her mom but the mom didn't react too much to it.

I didn't have to deal with this when my son was that age, it just started a few months ago, probably around the time that he started playing with few older boys from the street. Since school started, he hasn't been playing with them as much as he did over the summer, but he knows that if he talks like that again, then he won't be playing with the boys (8, 8 and 9 yrs old). But my daughter has already picked it up, so how do it deal with it????

[Secondtimearound]

I have word police here ! So I constantly am hearing , miss xx , jimmy said poop ! Bathroom words belong in the bathroom ! Lol he's 3 so it irks others when he is going up to everyone correcting them ! I personally just address the whole dayhome , maybe with a book or story ( puppets are great for this ) and let them know some words are considered "bad" and we should be trying not to use them .
I praise good words and ignore not so nice ones !
Hate , balls ect aren't horrible enough for time out for me but if I overheard my dd use them I would remind her about the story for example .
Sometimes it can go into a huge power struggle , if too much is made of it .

[Lee-Bee]

At 4 years old I would have her sit down with me and discuss the use of 'poor' language. Let her tell you as many reasons why it is not appropriate as she can come up with. Then have her make a list of consequences should she use those words. At 4 years old she should be able to come up with a handful (perhaps with some nudging)...time out, loss of toy for a bit, missed activity etc.

Then when she uses one of the words bring it to her attention and visit HER list together and have her decide which consequence is best.

This will help her own up to the negative behavior and therefore it might mean more to her and help her watch her own language.