Closing the Gap Between What You Say and What People Hear

Ho Ho Ho! (Ha Ha Ha! He He He!)

One of the things I find most sweet about Peter at this age is that he hasn’t quite developed his lying skills yet, or the instincts to cover up bad behavior. For example:

“Peter, where are you? What are you doing?”
“Don’t come in here.”
“Why?”
“I don’t want to tell you.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s something you’re not going to like!”

Another example: Coming home from playing at a friend’s house, as soon as we got in the car, Peter announced, “When we get home, I’m heading straight upstairs to play, because I’ve got something COOL in my pocket!” He had “borrowed” (without permission) a tiny lego piece to replace one he’d lost at home. I’m not even sure he considered it stealing, and I’m definitely sure his friend would never have noticed it was gone. But we had a little talk, nonetheless, and he returned the piece the next day, with apologies.

Funny stuff. And I know he’ll figure all that deception stuff out soon enough, so I’m appreciating the innocence while it lasts!

Speaking of comedy … Peter’s been working on Knock-Knock jokes lately. (His favorites: “Awtch. Awtch who? Bless you!” “Boo. Boo who? Oh, you don’t have to cry!” “Tank. Tank who? You’re welcome!”) So, he’s starting to get the format, but one of the classics tripped him up. I’ll spare you the whole routine, but his version of the punch line was, “Banana you glad I didn’t say flower again?”

This next one isn’t so much classic comedy as it is a classic parenting situation. We were talking over lunch. Peter started to tell me about someone he’d seen earlier who was, well, as he put it, “really fat … and short!” (Oh dear.) Summoning up my best, Happy Inclusive Parent voice, I said, “Well, I guess people come in all shapes and sizes, don’t they?” To which, after a short pause, he replied, “But there’s no triangle people.”

Boy’s got a point there.

Finally, this isn’t from Peter, but it is actual conversations overheard recently during a visit to Santa. First, a little boy, probably 7 or 8, asked for a wide-screen plasma TV. Santa, who seemed to know how to stand up for himself, replied, with a smile, “Well, I don’t know. That’s a pretty tall order!” Then, a little girl about the same age got up and said, “I want infinity money, and …” at which point Santa interjected, “Okay, no, you have to get down now. You can’t ask for anything more after ‘infinity money.’ ”

Infinity money. That’s quite a concept.

Whatever you wish for this Christmas, may all your wishes come true! And if, by chance, you actually get infinity money, please visit our web store! :-)

Merry Christmas!

Tags: Communication, david levin

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 17th, 2009 at 3:12 pm and is filed under Communication, Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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