You can wait a couple of weeks to see if that is in fact true. If he hasn't stopped saying bad words by then, you could try some introductory negative consequences (I say "introductory" because 3 is really the earliest age that you can expect negative consequences to have some long term effect). You could say for example, "from now on, when you say a bad word, you'll have to go sit in the thinking chair for 3 minutes" (see Raise Your Kids without Raising Your Voice for a complete discussion of negative consequences and how to apply them). Then, the next time he uses a bad word you send him to the chair. You would use the chair for 4 or 5 times to see if it has any effect on reducing the frequency of his bad language. If not, change the consequence. If he won't stay in the chair of his own free will, you'll have to teach him to "pay his ticket" so to speak. Tell him, "if you don't stay quietly in the chair until I tell you to come out, then you won't be allowed to go to the thinking chair. Instead, such & such will happen." You will tell him what "such & such" will be and you must ensure that, from his point of view, "such & such" is 100 times worse than spending 3 minutes sitting in a chair! For instance, if he is attached to a particular train set that he has, he could lose that for the afternoon instead of being allowed to sit in the chair. Or, if he is highly invested in his afternoon treat, he could lose that instead and so on. Once he understands that the chair is a good option relatively speaking, you can begin to educate him about the use of proper language!   Sarah Chana