Swear Jar

It has been growing more and more apparent of late that the quality  of conversation around the house has dropped to a level just below the gutter.  A sailor or construction worker might feel comfortable, but certainly not many other people.  Insults and snide comments are the preferred modes of communication, heavily laced with mild (and growing stronger) expletives.  This is not uncommon when there are multiple teenagers in the house, but when I was a kid, we limited trash talk to times when our parents couldn't hear us.  And, to be quite honest, the swearing was of a made up variety.  For instance, when I was mad at my sister, it was a huge offense to call her a 'tuna'.

Mild rebukes don't seem to work and the trash talk is starting to spill out and infest the kids 'guest manners', too.  They banter with crude words in a joking manner, not realizing how low it makes them sound.

It is time for an intervention.

Hence, the Swear Jar.

I haven't hammered out all the details yet, but it will go something like this...

For ever time you swear, you contribute a quarter to the jar and place a tally mark under your name.  At the end of the week, the person with the least tallies under their name wins and gets to keep the monies in the jar!  Sort of like how we used to use the 'Free Parking' spot on the Monopoly board as a place to put all taxes and the lucky stiff who landed there won it.  Only this way, it is rewarding actual effort rather than luck.  I suggested it be only the kids in the swear jar, since I rarely swear (except, apparently when skiing), and I don't want the kids to be discouraged if mom or dad always wins the kitty.

Here is a question, though.  Should put downs (derogatory comments) also be included?  How do we police that?  Will the kids be honest even with the swearing?

We'll see.

Wish me luck!