Reading Others

I have sometimes mentioned reading other blogs. Today, Chag over at Cynical Dad caught my attention. Primarily because our g.imp is doing exactly what his daughter is doing, pretending she does not hear us. Answering our every question or comment with 'What' or 'Hunh', was less than funny.

After catching on to what was happening, I decided it had to end. I must admit that a cousin whom I used to admire is really my inspiration for parenting. At one family reunion, I saw her chasing after her kids, trying to get them to listen to her. Even at the far end of the field from the action, I could still hear her cries:

'...Two...Three! I said three! I am not going to going to count again! Listen to me! I said three!...'

At that moment I vowed my own kids would never get that out of control.

So when g.imp pretended to be deaf, I had to come up with a quick solution. My usual response has been, "Are you sure you didn't hear me?"
Kids, my kids anyway, really do not like questions that could possibly have two wrong answers.

The usual response has been:

g.imp (b.imp has yet to start with this educational program): ummm
me: so what did I say?
g.imp will then repeat verbatim the statement/question thus ending the exercise.

On those rare occasions when she cannot, we have taught her to respond with "I did not hear what you said, can you please repeat it?"

If that magic phrase does not pop out of her mouth, someone could find herself holding the stairs in place with her hiney or holding a wall up with her nose. (but only for a minute or two)