"You Did What?"

Surprise! Your Child…

…is telling the world about his pee-pee.

What you should do: Practice your poker face. “Any reaction, laughter or anger, is going to reinforce the behavior,” says Sarah Trosper, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist at the New York University Child Study Center, in New York City. “It’s completely normal for toilet talk to increase around the time of potty training, which is also when children are starting to master language. They realize they get attention for using these words.” Stay silent, then praise your child when he switches to appropriate language.

Resist the urge to: Pick a name for your child’s privates that makes you giggle when you say it. Whether it’s penis or tiddlywink, choose something that the whole family is comfortable with. “The same way kids like to read the same story every night, they like to say the same words over and over,” says Trosper. “You’re going to hear it a lot.”