It all started one night at dinner when Jim noticed that every other word out of the boys’ mouths was “like”. He spontaneously declared that every time someone used the word like, they would lose 5 minutes of weekend video game time (a.k.a. electronic time, since this includes any time on the computer or iPod, playing games like Cookie Doodle–thanks Uncle Brian!).

They are allotted 3 hours of electronic time on Saturday, and 3 hours on Sunday, which means that if they say the l-word 12 times, they have already lost an hour of electronic time. It didn’t take the older boys long to figure out the math. This was serious.

As soon as Jim made the announcement, Jake put his head in his hands and said with exasperation that “That is like the lamest rule ever!” When he realized he said the l-word, he immediately stood up from the table. Then Jim handed down the sentence: minus 5 minutes. Jake stormed into the kitchen to begin washing the dinner dishes. Then out of the blue, our discerning, compliant firstborn son began spewing the newly declared bad word, “Like, like, like, like, like….” He must have racked up negative 90 minutes in that short rampage of his. Meanwhile, the three younger boys were staring at Jim and me, watching for how we would respond. Honestly, we had such a hard time keeping it together, we just busted out laughing.

For the next few days, Peter was so afraid of using the word that he would half-cover his mouth in an innocent attempt to catch the word before it reached anyone’s ears.

Jeremy would say it half a dozen times in a sentence, someone would call him out on it, and he would get seriously angry. He ranted that he didn’t know what to say, why can’t he say that word, blah, blah.

Derek, disciplined Derek, has said it maybe three times in the last two weeks. And he corrected himself every time.

It has been two weeks since we established the rule, and this is frankly the most challenging thing we have done as a family–for the kids and the adults.

Jake now catches himself before saying the l-word and takes more time to consider what he is saying.

We have all become more creative in our vocabulary, and goodness knows we needed an injection of verbal creativity around here.

We’ve also developed a non-verbal warning to the person who used the l-word: subtly make an “L” with the thumb and forefinger. Needless to say, some of us are not as subtle as others, so Jeremy and Peter enjoy making a loud siren noise, “wee-ooo, wee-ooo, wee-ooo” as they wave the “L” sign up and down.

Sadly, as time has progressed, the biggest culprits in the family have been the adults. And the kids love that fact.