Four letter words

Ours is a G / PG home and there's just not a lot of colorful language being thrown around here. There are, on occasion, the times that my husband tackles projects, usually involving the use of tools, where he has been known to utter a PG-13 word out of exasperation, frustration or pain. I can usually see these train wrecks coming and try to steer the kids away from dad before he explodes. Other than these infrequent outbursts, (and the public school) our kids are fairly isolated from inappropriate language. 

We do have a couple four letter words that are just no-no's at our house. The first one is the biggie. CAN'T.  I have never liked the word "can't" and have explained to our kids, for many years, that when they say they "can't" do something, it is usually not true. When they use "can't" it is typically them saying that they choose not to. I explain that these are two different things. If you choose not to do something it is very different than not being able to do it. I think we can all get into habits with words and we can easily talk ourselves into "can't". Can is a much more positive word and can't is all negative. Think about it. How many times do we use the word "can't" when it's really "I don't want to"?

The other four letter word that we don't say here is HATE. We don't hate anyone and we don't use the word. Period. I'm not sure why I'm so offended by this word, but I am. Of course there are things that the kids don't like and there will even be people who they don't really care for and that's okay to say. But, I think we are living in a world with too much hate. I do believe that God calls us to hate what is evil, but again, it's another word that can become a habit and it's such a strong, ugly negative. 

All of this is really leading me into something that happened here recently. Our son, Buck, found me in the back yard and came running with some big news. "Mom, mom, Sierra just said the S H word."  I paused. These are moments where I always attempt to think it all the way through before opening my mouth. As I'm processing what he's telling me, I'm bothered and wonder where it is that she could be hearing the "S H" word. So, after a lengthy pause, I say to Buck, "Thank you for informing me. I will be in shortly to speak with your sister."

Obviously not pleased with my calm response, he continues to work me over about her verbal indiscretion. So I ask him, "What is it that you'd like me to do?" 

"She needs to apologize to me, mom! She knows she's not allowed to tell me to shut up." Ahhh, the S H word - SHUT up.  I am so relieved! I completely agree with him, "shut up" is another one of our bad words. Together, we march into the house to confront Sierra about her poor choice of words.

Buck is still hot under the collar, so I'm careful not to let him see that I'm smiling.