Thing the First: I hate feeling out of the loop on an event that, for all intents and purposes, I should know everything about. Three facts: (1) Tonight is our RS Fall Fling dinner (husbands invited). (2) Of our RS presidency, I am the easiest to reach during the day. (3) I am completely in the dark about the event, because of last month's swine flu and because I am the education counselor.
I have now recieved four telephone calls and two after-school pickup conversations about the dinner tonight. Of those six encounters, I was able to help with exactly one: The turkey cooking in my oven. All the conversations ended with me apologizing and passing out other people's telephone numbers.
The latest phone call had to do with the Young Women (or the lack thereof) who were to provide a nursery. My husband is helping his grandmother move, and so he isn't around to help tonight. And so...well, with four rambunctious children of my own, I'm pretty sure I'll volunteer to do the nursery. It's not so fair to make someone else watch my crazy kids. And speaking of kids...
Thing the Second: How do you stop a six-year-old and a four-year-old from WHINING every second of the day? Time outs? Privilege revocation? Voodoo? Please leave your advice in the comments. Otherwise, I may have to sell my two oldest kids, and that would be a real pity, since they are just now getting old enough to do chores.
Thing the Third: I adore autumn. This week has been so amazingly beautiful, with bright yellow leaves and just a hint of chill in the day and yummy, smoky smells at night. We've tried to walk to and from school everyday this week so far, and it has been a pleasure.
Thing the Fourth: I got a telephone called today from "anonymous", which is almost always an unsolicited call from a survey or charity. Today, however, it was almost certainly a call from a scammer of some kind or another. First: he didn't ask for me or Bradley by name, just "May I speak to the homeowner?" Second: He had exactly two "survey" questions: "Are you concerned about the economy?" and "On a scale of 1 to 10, how worried about the economy are you?" Except that he wasn't following a script, because when I asked him to repeat the question (a combination of a really bad connection, talking children, and his rather difficult to decipher accent), he phrased it differently every time. Not having a script is a pretty good indication of scamming. Finally, and most glaringly, after the two questions, he told me I qualified for a prize. Riiiight. I told him I wasn't interested and please take me off the list, he protested that it was a PRIZE! I demurred, he again said but it's a PRIZE!, and then I again told him to take me off his list and hung up.
When I was telling my sister Telima about it later, it occurred to me that I should have strung him along, just to see what I had to do for this PRIZE. It would have been a better story then. But, alas, with noisy children and difficult accents, it just wasn't worth it to me. Sigh.
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I had a major whiner and this is what I did (it actually seemed to help!)
ReplyDeleteFirst I repeated what she said with exactly the same intonation. Then I very cheerfully pointed out that that sound is whining. Then I said it politely. Then I had her repeat her utterance until she, too, said it politely. A pain? Yes. Effective? Yes.
I just ignore them. They tend to get louder and louder until I send them to their room. I do not respond to whining. Benjamin and Jacob have long since outgrown the habit. Erica and Lillian are getting the point. Heather may never stop whining, it's just who she is.
ReplyDeleteThat is such a great idea! I like that it is something that I can do in the moment, right then. Unlike time outs and other such nonsense, which don't work so well in the store or the car. You are brilliant. And beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of whining yourself and having the kid acknowledge that a whine is not pleasant to listen to. I like to say, "I am sorry, but I can't understand what you are saying when you whine". Seems to work.
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