Suck a Bucket!

There is an expression heard often in our house. I don’t know where it came from. I don’t know what it means. I am not even sure it is physically possible. What I do know is that when I am frustrated instead of saying some other more explicit words that would receive an R rating I say, “Suck a bucket”.

I never really put much thought into it. It just pops right out when I stub my toe, or burn my finger or drop something unexpectedly. I never really put much thought into it until one of my kids repeated it the other day. Just to hear those words come out of his mouth made me stop and consider how much influence I really have on my children.

Some influence is good. Reading our Bible everyday. Saying please and thank you. Praying before meals and bedtime. Opening doors for ladies. Signing hymns—opposed to screaming—in the car when you are scared. The list goes on.

But we also have the ability to pass down not-so-good traits. Like the time when I was pregnant with our oldest. I was getting my hair cut. As I sat in the salon chair another woman was sitting in the one across from me. Her two year old accidentally knocked over the trash can. The contents spilled out over the floor. He promptly said some words that a child that young should have never heard-- let alone say. Shocked and astonished, I looked at the mom to see what her reaction would be. It only shocked me more.

As her son was expressing his frustrations with profanities, she laughed. She thought it was cute. I did not. I vowed, right then and there, that I wouldn't say “illegal” words in the presence of my children.

I may not talk like a sailor in front of my kids but I do, however, pass down some not-so-good traits. My children have seen me on numerous occasions eat way too much chocolate cake. They have experienced me throwing tantrums when a plan doesn't go the way I expected it to go. They have heard me whine and complain. And I am pretty sure that they have caught onto my ophidiophobia due to the fact that I refuse to take them into the deserts section of the zoo.

No, I am not a perfect mom. By no means. I doubt you are either. But we all are doing our best with what we have and that is all God expects from us. Paul tells us in Ephesians that we are to “...bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” (6:4)

So keep on training and instructing just make sure you aren't telling them to go suck on buckets of any kind.