We have been working hard at keeping certain words out of our language in front of our now five year old daughter. You know the basics, the seven dirty words (note: the actual words are on that page in case you don’t want to read it). I’d like to add a few more to the list.
Stupid – I use it to describe the remote a lot but little girls don’t understand the distinction between inanimate objects and their classmates.
Dumb – see stupid
Fat – you can’t even say “big fat liar” without touching on body size. According to a recent article on CNN, children begin teasing and calling outcasts “fat” as early as preschool.
Diet – dovetailing off “fat” it’s been theorized that children exposed to constant parental dieting can become more self conscious of their body image at a younger age. High school is hard enough, I’m not going to burden her with a negative body image if at all possible. We talk about eating healthy, not about dieting.
Bad – as in “I’m going to be bad and eat this…” This goes hand in hand with the possible consequences of “fat” and “diet.” There are too many ways to screw up your kids!
Crap – she already knows it means the stinky deposits in the bathroom, it’s not much of a stretch to get her to say shit. Let’s just nip this one in the bud.
Shut up – self explanatory
Most religious statements and exclamations, like “Oh my God!” and “Jesus Christ!” and “for chrissakes!” For one because we aren’t religious and for two because a 5 year old saying “Jesus Christ!” might be funny but it isn’t a good thing at school.
Self censorship is pretty dammed difficult, isn’t it?
Notes from the Melody Maker 
Sadly she will be learning some dirty words in school. You would think young children wouldn’t say some of those words but they do. We are very careful about what we say in front of our kids. But Robin was coming home from Kindergarten saying some things that I couldn’t believe.
Yes, we surely did have to curtail our language – even your Dad did it. He still does most of the time. When they come out in little ones, the best thing to do is let them know that is not a word you use in our house, and then continue to try and not use it.
Once upon a time when I was about 5, my mother asked me to sweep the back porch. I didn’t want to and said I didn’t want to sweep the DAMN porch. She wanted to know where I heard such a word – and she let me know in no uncertain words that that kind of talk was not acceptable in our family! You know, I still seldom swear, even on the golf course!