Recently I was complaining to a girlfriend about this problem and how Chris and I hadn't discovered an effective solution yet. This friend was raised in a devoutly Protestant household where Scripture was memorized and was used in teaching and discipline. So, she promptly replied, "Oh! Ephesians 4:29!" which she then quoted perfectly from memory, having had to recite it many a times as a child.
This got me thinking, so I came home, looked it up in a Catholic Bible, and wrote it down on our whiteboard.
"No foul language should come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for needed edification, that it may impart grace to those who hear." St. Paul to the Ephesians 4:29.
John noticed it the next morning on the white board and inquired. "Funny you should ask . . ." I explained to him that this was from a letter St. Paul wrote to a church called the Ephesians, which would be like if he wrote it to our little parish. I read it to him and he asked explanation of a few vocabulary words.
Then his eyes got real big and he asked in hushed tone, "Is that still the rule?"
"Yes, John, it's still the rule because St. Paul knew what Jesus wants us to do."
Mary, three, sat by listening quietly.
And now any time she hears John starting potty talk, she quotes the beginning of Ephesians 4:29 to him because apparently it is more fun for her to be a correcting Little Miss even than to do potty talk with her brother. I love it!
This works for youth ministry, too, when the leaders want to gently encourage the teens to nix profanity. In my youth and young adult group in NJ it was common to hear the leaders and the teens say, "Ephesians 4:29!" to anyone who cursed or used otherwise crude language.
ReplyDeleteAwesome! We recently instituted bathroom cleaning (no matter how clean already) for potty mouth.
ReplyDeleteAshley: I'm loving this idea of having to clean the bathroom. LOVING IT.
ReplyDeleteAw her lisp is cute. ""Thaint Paul thayth no foul language..."
ReplyDeleteGood memory!
Great idea. I wonder if there a list of more handy scripture passages for other disciplinary reminders? :)
ReplyDeleteSarah: I had the exact same thought. I have been intending to search online for a handy list of Scripture for common teaching with young children. It will probably come from a Protestant source, so then I'd get the Catholic bible translation and make my own list.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad it's working! Great idea about the lists- I might have to sit down and see what I can recall. Mary is adorable!
ReplyDeleteThere is "Wise Words for Moms" by Ginger Plowman. It is a booklet that is made like a wall hanging calendar. I have it hanging on my kitchen wall. It is Protestant, and the quotes are from the New International Version of the Bible. Ephesians 4:29 is on the list under "unwholesome talk".
ReplyDeleteAlicia W.