I’m a teacher – never use the phrase ‘don’t say that’ when a kid’s cheeky – it won’t stop them so here’s what to do

A TEACHER has revealed the right way to respond if a child says something inappropriate or cheeky in the classroom or at home. 

And while it may be tempting to reply “don’t say that”, the education worker said this only makes matters worse – and shared her clever trick to nip it in the bud. 

Social media user Miss Teachyy recalled when kids have played up in her school classroom, and what she’s learnt along the way.

In a video posted to her TikTok account, @missteachyy, she explained: “So a child says something inappropriate in your class.

“The worst thing you can say to that child is front of your entire class is, ‘don’t say that.’”

She continued to her 15.4k followers: “My people, here’s what happens when you say, ‘don’t say that.

“You say ‘don’t say that’ and the rest of the class asks the child what they said, then the kid repeats what they said to everyone.”

The teacher continued that the conversation didn’t stop there, as they would then ask the child what it means, or they go home and ask their older sibling or friend what it means.

This leads to everyone now being way more interested in the phrase than they ever would have been before. 

She added: “Humans are strange because we’re all intrigued and want to learn more about things that we shouldn’t necessarily know.

“We want to have the inside scoop on what things are when we’re not supposed to know.

“If you shout out to a child, ‘don’t say that’ you are igniting a very scary forest fire in your classroom.”

So instead Miss Teachyy has come up with a way “to tackle that situation” without causing a big fuss.

She revealed: “Just pull that child to the side and say, ‘what you just said… do you know what that means?’

“Because I have news for you – a lot of time, kids will shout nonsense that they know is not necessarily right to see how you react, but they don’t necessarily know what it means.”

She said that the best way to play it is to “bring them back, be really casual about it.”

While she stressed that dealing with it in the right way is focusing on “your reaction” and ensuring that you’re calm and collected.

After she shared her expert advice, fellow teachers also joined the conversation and had their say.

One wrote: “I simply say, ‘no thank you’ and continue forward with whatever we were doing and it normally works pretty good.”

A second social media user added: “YES!!! Same thing happens when we do rhyming words.You say, ‘Yep’ and move on.”