My wife and I have always told our children that we are all “better and smarter than a four letter word.”
If you know me well, you know that I am far from perfect – so a few hours after deriding the use of four letter words, I would drop a few for, dropping my “IQ,” as well as the credibility of what I said earlier.
My wife came up with the idea to have a “bad word” container in the kitchen. For each bad word that was muttered, the person who said it would contribute $0.50 to the jar.
In addition to the four letter words, we also count words that are similar but are said in substitute for a curse word. My children weren’t too crazy about this rule – a few quarter clinked against the side of the container after we broke the news to them.
There have been the predictable times when I’ve added to the collection – when the garage door spring broke (as well as shortly after writing the check to have it repaired), when the lawn mower wheel locked up (I may have to add to the collection when I fix it), and of course when I leave my glasses three rooms away and forget where they are.
There have been times when I’ve also reached into my pocket, and added to the jar - without saying a word.
Needless to say, our kids have enjoyed keeping us accountable. There have been times in heavy traffic when I have heard a voice come from the backseat saying, “That was $1.00, dad!”
I have gotten better, however.
I think my family has become better, as well.
Since the day my wife pulled out the jar nearly two months ago, it has gotten heavier. In fact, we have been able to make change from it a few times.
As of today, we have $34.50 in the jar.
One day my son looked at the jar and said, “Dad, what are we going to buy for the family with all of that money?! We can take a great vacation!!”
I said, “Son, we don’t reward ourselves with bad words. We won’t spend the money on ourselves at all.”
My family has decided that we’ll take the money and use it to buy food for the HMUMC Food Pantry.
If nothing else, the bad words will at least be recycled into good deeds for someone else.
Not a perfect way to contribute, but at least some additional benefit will come from the jar.