bummy bummy poo bum

Walking into the childrens preschool, there are signs outlining the contagious diseases that some children may have been exposed to. The preschool is really quite diligent with keeping us informed, however they seem to have missed one highly contagious and extremely irritating ailment that is migrating throughout our 3yr olds.... The words ‘Bummy Bummy Poo Bum’

What is it about these particular words that has children repeating them over and over and over again? What makes them laugh so hard and egg each other on to keep saying them? Most importantly, what is the best way to handle it when they say it?

Although I've not tried any of the following suggestions myself and in no way endorse them, here a few ideas I've gathered from mothers, teachers and my good friend 'google':

 IGNORE:

PROS: not rewarding the bad language with attention. There is the possibility that they will just grow out of it....

CONS: you may have to hear it every day for the next 4 years

HAVE THE CHILD REPEAT THE WORD FOR ONE MINUTE FOR EACH YEAR OF THEIR AGE. ie a 4yr old would repeat the word continuously for 4 minutes:

PROS: Mildly entertaining. May give children an opportunity to outgrow it faster and to take the amusement away from it.

CONS: May encourage the usage of such words and make the problem worse.

HAVING A STERN TALK:

PROS: While you are talking, they are not, therefore, they will not be able to use the words for 5 minutes or so.

CONS: Increasing frustration when you stop talking and they start talking again.

But as a good friend of mine pointed out recently, 2 minutes back at preschool and it all starts again. Is it worth the struggle or should we just grit our teeth and wait patiently, pretending that it doesn't drive us crazy for long enough that they don't find it funny anymore? I'll let you know!

Fast fact: A study by the Parents Television Council found that about once an hour children watching popular children's networks will hear mild curse words such as "stupid," "loser" and "butt." The scope and frequency can rise immeasurably with exposure to adult programs and popular music.