At our house we played a lot of hide-n-seek, caught a lot of
lightening bugs, rode miles and miles on bicycles, while I walked up and down
the road watching for cars, played card games, built towers and forts with
Tinker Toys and Lincoln Logs, and read books…lots and lots and lots of books.
Each of the kids had their favorites, but they all agreed that the “Berenstain
Bears” and “Amelia Bedelia” belonged in the category of classic literature.
The other day I came across an Amelia Bedelia book and it
still made me laugh. Hey, putting clothes on a chicken (dress the chicken) and
covering the furniture in dusting powder (dust the furniture)…. I don’t care
who you are, that’s just funny.
But besides being good for a laugh and a little lesson in ‘word
play’, Amelia’s misinterpretations reminded me of the times my kids
misunderstood our comments or instructions to them—like the time we were playing
outside and I asked six year-old Zach to go check to see if ten month-old
Olivia was still sleeping in her crib.
Zach willingly went in the house and returned a few minutes
later carrying Olivia. “She was awake so I changed her diaper, too,” Zach said
proudly. FYI: I used cloth diapers…the kind with diaper pins. Neither he nor
Olivia was crying and he’d actually done a pretty good job. J
I didn’t ask or expect Zach to do those things, but he knew
that for me, checking on Oliva meant a diaper change.
And then there was the time John had to work; missing the
Vacation Bible School program. When he told the kids goodbye before leaving the
house, he told two year-old Elizabeth to sing loud so he could hear her. When
it came time for her little class to sing the two songs they’d practiced all
week, she marched up on stage, planted herself smack dab in front of the
microphone, and sang loud enough that I’m pretty sure John did hear her. J
I could go on, but I won’t. Instead I want to encourage you
to spend a few minutes thinking about what you say to your kids and how you say
it. Are they getting the right message or is there too much room for misunderstanding
and misinterpretation?If your kids seem to be ignoring you or seeing how far they can push against their boundaries, stop and think about the fact that they just might be confused and unsure of your expectations. Ask them to repeat back to you what you’ve just said in their own words. In doing so, you will save both you and your kids a lot of frustration.
Love,
Momma D
Copyright 2018 Darla Noble. No part of this can be used or copied without permission from the author.
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