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One of the hardest jobs (in my opinion) that comes with being a parent is teaching your children respect. Whether they're two years old or eighteen years old. My suggestion would be to talk to your husband about it and come up with a game plan when your kids aren't around or are asleep. You have to be united when dealing with the kids or they will divide and conquer you and your hubby. Come up with guidelines for the kind of behavior you would eventually like to see, then make the commitment to stick to it no matter how unhappy it might temporarily make your kids. The biggest thing is to be persistent. To make your kids realize that we will NOT tolerate this, it is unacceptable in our family, etc. That "these" are our family's rules and this is what is expected. Some things work better with different kids. My son was so easy you could raise an eyebrow at him and say "what did you just say to me?" and he would immediately realize what he did and apologize. My daughter was so difficult that I tried time outs, taking toys away, earlier bedtimes, etc. The only thing that I ever found to work with her was to not say a word and walk away when she started back talking. She'd realize that she didn't have an audience, pout a few minutes, then come find me and ask "why did you leave me?" (she's a social butterfly and can't stand being by herself). That would open the door for me to talk to her about her behavior. Surprisingly, it worked. You just have to find what works for each of your children. Like I said before, persistency and being united is the key. If they catch you caving in once, they'll try to get you to cave again. I don't want to discourage you, but respect is a lesson they have to learn over and over. And respect is something that is so much harder to teach when they are teenagers. If you don't have a foundation of basic respect when they are little, you're going to have a lot of problems when they hit eleven or twelve. You're smart for wanting to change things now. Maybe I'm just really blessed, but I really don't have problems with backtalking now. Occasionally if they are tired or upset, but for the most part they don't. I think it's because I pushed respect of other people and other people's "property" from a very young age. They know it's just one of those things mom won't put up with. Everyone told me how horrible the teen years would be, how I would be so stressed out, how they would act up so badly. Levi's 18, still lives at home pursuing his education, and I'm still waiting for those horrible teen years to hit He's a complete joy to me, not to say that it hasn't taken a lot of patience and persistence on my part. I think whatever you expect from your kids is what you will end up getting. If you don't expect much, you won't get much. If you do expect things from them, they know that and will work to go in the right direction. I hope that makes sense! Good luck!

I feel you pain. I am getting it here, too.My toddlers are learning it from my teenagers and I am forever having to say a name in warning to one of the older kids to watch what they are saying around the yopunger ones.

Have you Hugged your child today and said I Love You. As they can leave us much to soon. Mother of 10, plus 3 Angels. Breanne, Beth and John. Together in Life, Together in Play, Together in Eternity. Gone home to Heaven Jan 8th, 2003. Forever in our Heart