T--Ma's Cussin' Place --Funny Story

My daughter Crystal married Mike and Teresa Lindsey's eldest son Adam in 2007 or so.

Teresa came to be named "T-ma" by the first grandchild, Averie. It suited her well.

We lost Teresa to lymphoma in 2015. She is sadly missed, but when we had her she was

something else awhile. She was a teaching aide who specialized in reading and learning disabilities.

She traveled to various schools all over Blount and Sevier counties helping kids with learning problems. She was so funny and so great with kids. She couldn't talk about what she did, but one day she did share a funny story with us. I'm very thankful she did because it showcased her skill in coping with some of the worst behavior in children. We didn't ever know this youngster's name, but only the problems and how they were overcome.

One of the behaviors this little boy had was mainly a very foul mouth. He'd not been properly parented so it seemed and just used the worst sort of language in school. Lots of cursing. It was distressing to the school and the other children.

Teresa came up with a strategy to break him of the habit. She got all the teachers on board to make sure it was done consistently. She fixed him a "Cussin' Place". It was under a table in a private room. It had a trash can down there. Before he was allowed to go for any special classes like music or art, recess or even lunch he had to visit his Cussin' Place.

Teresa would have him go in there and spit all the bad words out in the trash can before he could move on to lunch or wherever. He'd get under there and say a few bad words and spit them in the trash can. He'd say to Teresa he was done. She'd say "Oh no. I doubt that. The way you've been cussin' I'm sure there's a few more." She'd make him go back to spit out the rest.

He'd insist he was done. She'd make him spit out some more bad words. Finally he'd be allowed to move on to lunch or special activities.

Each day he grew more and more tired of his cussin' place. He grew to resent having to visit it before doing more desirable activities. The strategy worked as she held his feet to the fire making him spit out those curse words before doing anything around his fellow students. Finally he wore it out and decided the cussing had to stop because he dreaded having to get under the table to spit out those dirty words. If I live to be a hundred I'll never forget that lesson and how funny it was!

She was so great with our grandkids. If they had ugly attitudes or said inappropriate things she'd make them spit out there bad behavior in the trash can. How it worked!