Q: 'A brother (3 years 6 months) and sister (2 years 2 months) joined our pre-school recently and both of them swear. From what we have observed, the little boy knows he shouldn't be saying these words, his sister is simply mimicking him and his mother doesn't show any concern about their behaviour. How should we respond?'
A: Babies are naturally social; they take an alert interest in the world around them. Their brains are well attuned to the sounds of the human voice and they are poised to learn spoken language as the months pass.
Young children learn their words and ways of speaking from what they hear. However, older babies and young toddlers do not have a filter for 'rude' words. They are great imitators and they especially notice words or phrases said with great feeling by familiar adults, or other children.
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