November 16, 2025 at 5:46 pm

Dad Tells Kids They Have To Put 25 Cents In A Jar Every Time They Curse, But The Rules Also Apply To Him

by Jayne Elliott

child's hand putting coin in jar that reads "swear jar"

Shutterstock/Reddit

Imagine being a parent and hearing one of your kids curse. You’d probably want them to stop doing that.

Would you take a look in the mirror and decide to stop cursing yourself, or would you give them some sort of punishment?

In this story, one dad decides to start a curse jar where anyone in the family who curses has to put 25 cents in the jar.

He didn’t think this idea through very well.

Let’s see how the story plays out.

The curse jar

Back when we were children, my siblings and I would indulge in the occasional curse word. Nothing crazy, we were generally pretty good kids.

Well one night my brother drops an F bomb at the dinner table, and my dad decides “enough is enough”.

Curse jar with a 25 cent penalty is starting immediately. For everyone.

This could get interesting!

My siblings and I start looking at each other.

“For everyone?” One of us tentatively confirms.

Yepp, for all of us in the household. Okay, got it.

What my father forgot to account for was our general inspiration for cursing was … well, him.

Wow! Dad curses a lot!

We got 50 cents out of him by the end of dinner. It was on.

We spent the next week clocking him for Every. Single. Infraction.

It was glorious. In a week, we’d gotten 53 dollars out of him.

That didn’t last long. LOL

He took us out to dinner with the money accumulated in the jar.

He went out of town after that for a business trip.

He came home and no one ever spoke about the curse jar again.

If dad would stop cursing, the kids probably would too.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

This person had a different punishment for cursing.

Screenshot 2025 10 29 at 5.24.43 PM Dad Tells Kids They Have To Put 25 Cents In A Jar Every Time They Curse, But The Rules Also Apply To Him

This parent also had a cuss jar.

Screenshot 2025 10 29 at 5.24.54 PM Dad Tells Kids They Have To Put 25 Cents In A Jar Every Time They Curse, But The Rules Also Apply To Him

Another parent shares a story about curse words.

Screenshot 2025 10 29 at 5.25.21 PM Dad Tells Kids They Have To Put 25 Cents In A Jar Every Time They Curse, But The Rules Also Apply To Him

This family’s swear jar lasted quite awhile.

Screenshot 2025 10 29 at 5.25.42 PM Dad Tells Kids They Have To Put 25 Cents In A Jar Every Time They Curse, But The Rules Also Apply To Him

Here’s a story about a pizza place with a swear jar.

Screenshot 2025 10 29 at 5.26.20 PM Dad Tells Kids They Have To Put 25 Cents In A Jar Every Time They Curse, But The Rules Also Apply To Him

He thought it was a punishment, but it ended up being a reward.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a rude customer who got exactly what they wanted in their pizza.