Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Dirty

A new family moved into the community and with them came a few choice words their children used to express themselves. It didn't take us children long to start using them also.  Mom and Daddy weren't happy and gave us several lectures about the importance of not using words that aren't pure and that don't do anything to make our conversation better.

They made us copy and memorize the verse in Matthew that told us  to let our conversation be yea yea or nay nay and whatsoever is more than this cometh from evil. We tried to be more careful but it didn't seem to last for very long, somehow it felt good to occasionally add a few words to express our feelings.

One evening one of us again happened to use a word and Mom got a funny look on her face and marched the offender into the bathroom. She had just finished changing the baby's soiled diaper. "A dirty word deserves a dirty punishment," she declared and instructed the guilty party to wash the diaper out in the toilet.
No amount of gagging and retching made her change her mind.

From that day forward when ever we happened to use an offensive word we had to wash a soiled diaper. It didn't take us very long at all to have a strong aversion of using any words that we shouldn't. And to this day whenever I hear someone adding choice words to their conversations I still see those disgusting diapers.

15 comments:

  1. Oh what a good story. Thanks for sharing.
    AMY

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  2. o wow! Yeah...I think a dirty diaper washing would make me change my mind too! Maybe I should try this one out with my kids! LOL!

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  3. Well, at least she didn't use soap! I'm afraid my mother did once. But I also got the hint! We were afraid the Lord might strike us with lighting if we said certain words. Thank goodness I now know his loving ways better. But this is an excellent reminder of how important it is to teach our children right from wrong.

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  4. I would say that the punishment was appropriate and did accomplish the goal. What a great story.

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  5. Thank you so much for visiting my blog and for your kind comment.
    I love your post. Your Mom was very creative!
    I am so interested to read more of your story. My folks used to live in Lancaster, Pa, and I loved nothing more than driving the winding roads through the Amish community. I admit to feeling a yearning to be a part of such a peaceful way of life.

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  6. Oh yeah - that would pretty much do it! Ha Ha
    Your mama was a smart woman!

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  7. Gosh! How I wish I had come up with this idea ... would've solved a few issues .. chuckle! I remember when I washed my son's mouth out with soap & he bit down on the joint of my finger about killing me ... we both learned a lesson that day ...

    Love your stories. TY for sharing.
    Have a great eve.
    TTFN ~ Hugs in love, Marydon

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  8. what a good visual for a bad habit! LOL

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  9. Oh, it's so nice to be here visiting again! Your mom knew what she was doing - what a great idea! I'd like to borrow her for my 22 year old please, who thinks it's funny. Whenever Scott says words like "vacuum" or "clean" or "dust", I make him clean dirty diapers too! ;)

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  10. Thank you for commenting on my blog. I had a fabulous time visiting Iowa and am looking forward to another visit.
    I do have a question, eli told me there are no photos of ancestors or written family history.
    Was that just his family or is that part of the Amish way?
    I love all the stories on your blog!

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  11. You have a very wise mother. We used to get soap in our mouth and I hated it but I think I'd rather have that than the diaper punishment.

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  12. Found you at Donna's @ Comin' Home!!! Gotta love your Mom's choice of punishment....she sure did get her point across!!!

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  13. My older boys, (10 and 11), would help with diapers sometimes when we used cloth, and I never thought of it as a punishment, nor presented it to them as such.

    This was an interesting story. I'm glad this worked for your mom, and gave a good lasting result!

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment. I love hearing your thoughts.