My 3.5 y/o son is abusing the bathroom amnesty on potty talk

[kellyam]

@dhd While true, listening to "you're a peanut butter poopy sandwich", "come here lil' butt butt", or "you're a little poopybutt" followed by screeching laughter on repeat for hours, day after day, frays the nerves just a bit...

 

[dhd]

@kellyam I'm a child

 

[filipdj]

@soulserena Our rule is thus: "You're making potty talk. Sounds like you need to use the potty" Daughter: "I don't." Us: "The stop the potty talk."

 

[medavey]

@soulserena Yep. It'll stop eventually.

 

[iwant2beapastorwheniam42y]

@soulserena I have desensitized my son to potty talk by talking about poo and farts all the time.

 

[khairfactory]

@soulserena I enjoyed the similar anecdote about potty talk in Bringing Up Bebe, in which there was similar amnesty extended for an appropriate space, and similarly it backfired and the parents lost a playdate family. As a child I also lost a play date friend for saying “feverything farts fith feff”. You are doing good work protecting your son’s future play dates!

I’m not sure my son’s dad and I have ever outgrown this sense of humor. Not sure we are good playdate material though tbh

 

[fleshisweak]

@soulserena I'm afraid you've made it taboo, which makes it fascinating. You've literally crafted a scenario where you're going to get more potty talk, not less.

The best thing to do with these things is ignore them, and just occasionally correct in a very low-key way if your really have to ("No Timmy, we don't talk about poo or wee while we're eating", or "Nana doesn't like talking about poo, so only do it with other people, please").

If you don't turn it into a big issue then it quickly loses its appeal, but if you make it into a whole thing then he won't stop talking about it for months or years.

 

[brinmat]

@soulserena you got got

 

[tkraft]

@soulserena This is so wholesome

 

[al_77]

@soulserena My daughter has been doing the same. Extinction is the best weapon I have at this point. She’ll say something similar, then I’ll look at her and say, “I’m not laughing.” Then ignore everything afterward that’s inappropriate and praise everything unrelated to potty talk.

It’s not perfect…

 

[andywatson]

@soulserena My son, also 3, tells his his teachers he has to "take a big dump".

Mama hates it, I get teary-eyed headache laughs

 

[levite22]

@soulserena The more you try to control it, the bigger an issue it becomes. You might find better luck just saying yep in a totally flat voice. When the conversation changes or he says something you want to encourage more of, engage more yourself/laugh/animated etc.

 

[cbradley]

@soulserena I swear, I think I've said this to my wife at least every other day since you posted this. Thank you.

 

[soulserena]

@cbradley Haha you’re welcome!

 

[siily1]

@soulserena you mean poo-poo