Hello!

I have a 5 year old boy that goes to kindergarten and he back chats myself and my partner and he’s at the stage where he thinks he is right and he knows everything, my daughter which is  3 years old is starting to copy him. They do not swear because the first swear word I heard I got hot english mustard so I have stopped them from swearing before it started to become a common thing. I’m just wondering what other mums do with the kids when they talk back all the time?


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  • We gave our daughter lines to write at that age. Since she could hardly write yet I made a sheet of lines on Open Office Writer with lines saying “no talking back please” so I could print it out and she could trace the letters. She is 6 years now and it has greatly improved. Still I would give her sometimes lines to write after she had a warning and doesn’t stop her behaviour.


  • We’ve had the same issue. You just need to explain that it is disrespectful and won’t get them what they want. If they know their back chatting will result in them missing out on something they consider important they will stop pretty quickly.


  • My 6yo is a back chatter. And we always say that master 8 has to have the last word. They drive me nuts.


  • I have an 8 year old son. His back chatting has also reached a new level. It’s just soooooo frustrating,isn’t it? I agree with what the other mums are saying. I only today had a talk with my son about his behavior of late and that I am going to up the consequences. I’m not taking it anymore!


  • getting this with my 4 year old since she went to 3 year old kinder last year :-(


  • There needs to be consequences. Explain it is not acceptable, there are times you just need to stop talking. If you say one more thing you will be put in time out in the laundry or some other boring place!


  • I have the same issue with my 6 year old son. I’ve taken toys off him, taken away his privilege of using his iPad for a day or two, and made him have time out in his room as well as explaining to him that I am the adult and he is the child but it has not been successful. For me part of the difficulty lies in the fact my son has ASD and we are still working on how he interacts with other people. I guess all we can do is keep on reiterating that we are the parent, they are the child and just try to do the best that we can.


  • My daughter is 6 and her back chatting had reached an all time high these last few months! It’s driving me insane! Taking away her favourite toys no longer works. I have to take other privilege’s away like no school tuckshop, no play dates with friends, no cartoon or movie time. I also use a time out chair which is placed in spot that is boring, no toys/tv etc can be seen or played with. I kneel to her level and explain to her that its not nice to back chat and how it makes me feel. Finally over the last couple of weeks, I have had some success and she has limited her back chat. I know it will come back as she gets older…not looking forward to the teen years!


  • I did the same thing as another mum – I make him forego any form of technology for the night if he can’t respect the authority of an adult (me). Unfortunately compared to when we were children it seems to be an all too common occurance in this generation. My son does have oppositional defiance disorder in conjunction with his ADHD but I still need to punish him just like any other child.


  • I have found removing there favourite toy for a couple of days works well. For me with my son. My son has never sworn though. But just to keep him on track good luck


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