Social Skills for Kids – How to End Boogers, Burps, and Bathroom Talk

Social skills are like traffic rules. If your kid breaks those rules with boogers, burps, and bathroom talk, it can be embarrassing. Inside you'll find 3 parenting skills for increasing character, manners, and decreasing vulgar behavior.

Good manners are like traffic rules for society.

- Michael Levine, US Author

Pretend you have a child whose mouth and actions put you on red alert. You'd like to put a stop to his bad manners but you don't know how. Should you give the potty talk a green light?

Let's look at some parenting skills you could use today for increasing your child's social skills.

1. First Parenting Skill for Decreasing Vulgar Manners in Young Kids - Ignore Them

   Bathroom talk starts as early as 3 years-old. The first time your child uses it, you laugh. Your child loves making you laugh. He increases his potty talk, burps, and booger picking just to get your giggles. This is your orange caution light. Stop fueling his bad manners with laughing. Then quickly turn away and ignore him. This may take several tries. Finally, he'll realize that getting your attention and giggles with bad manners doesn't work.

2. Second Parenting Skill for Decreasing Vulgar Manners in Kids – Time Out

   If your 6-year-old is getting giggles from friends with his potty talk, this is your red light to stop it. Have a chat with him. Ask him why such behavior isn't proper. If your child continues with his negative actions, use time out. He won't like it and that's good. Since your child is 6, 6 minutes of time out will do. Have him tell you what he did wrong when time out is over.

3. Third Parenting Skill for Decreasing Vulgar Manners in Kids – Joke Books

   Go to the library or buy a joke book for kids. Practice the best jokes together. Teach him how to pause before the punch line. This is his green light for earning your giggles. Encourage him to tell the jokes at the family dinner, with grandma and grandpa, and then with his friends. Get him to replace his vulgar talk with clean humor. Then increase this new social skill with plenty of praise.

Social Skills Summary

You've probably noticed that many adult comedians use potty talk. Why? The audience laughs. Encouraged by the laughter, the comedians use even grosser bathroom jokes. Secretly, many people would prefer clean jokes with a surprise twist at the end. But such jokes take more skill than the potty talk of 3 year-olds.

By training your kids to follow the traffic rules of good humor, they'll earn hearty giggles, build character, and bring sunshine to everyone lucky enough to know them. Why not have fun teaching your kids these social skills for life?