Article Contributed on: 5/1/2007 11:00:36 PM
Within the ebb and flow of our lives and our experiences with raising children is the ever-present battle with "M" over whether she's hard of hearing or just hard of listening. I'm leaning towards the latter, frankly...
Don't get me wrong; we know that every child - just like every adult - has their good days and their bad days. Sometimes you bring your "A Game" and sometimes you can't be bothered to bother, if you know what I mean. And it's the same with kids; sometimes, they just can't be counted on to rise to the occasion.
We know all that and we do our level best to take all that into consideration when contemplating corrective action. But we also know that "M" was once the absolute authority in her family. She was the one who called the shots - at least as far as the interpersonal relationships were concerned - and it's sometimes obvious that she became very comfortable in that role.
It's manifesting itself in at least a dozen ways around here now. Perhaps the most irritating of which is her inability or unwillingness to follow directions as they're given to her. We say, "go grab your blue coat with the pink writing" and she'll return with a pair of pink shorts.
We tell her, "stay out of the boys' room" and she'll justify her trespass by claiming to pick up toys there. The evening rule is to be calm and quiet, yet she'll run around making noise because she's pretending to be a dog.
The Wif and I discuss these things as they happen but have - until now - been found wanting of an answer. And the answer is...
We're going to try running, "listening drills" with "M." After all, if you want to get better at something the one proven method is to practice, practice, practice, right?
So we're going to try sending "M" on various, otherwise meaningless missions to test her ability to either follow directions or ask for clarification. "Go into the boys' room and bring me the red car with Big Bird driving it" will become normal fare around here.
And the requests will only get more complicated as we practice. It's the only way I know to make perfect. Not that perfection is expected, mind you, but we've got to do something...
Chris Stone is a slightly different - hopefully better - Father and man than he was yesterday...