Monday, January 21, 2008

These Are the Days of Our Lives

So far, the soap opera hasn't amounted to a whole heck of a lot.

I talked to Twinkle over hot chocolate last week about how sometimes people can tell us things that aren't necessarily true. I told her that, for the most part, if someone starts a sentence by saying that "so-and-so said x about you", that as a general rule she shouldn't believe it. Period.

If the other person insists, that's OK. But unless she hears it straight from "so-and-so" it probably isn't true.

Then we come to the times that we hear it straight out of the horse's mouth. For this, we talked about teasing. Twinkle is actually familiar with this and used to call it "cheesing" as in, "Mom, are you just cheesing?" So, I have reminded her that people tease a lot.

We also talked about people just messing with her - like GND moving her sticks because it got a reaction. I said to her, "You know how sometimes you'll take a toy from Sparkle just to make her whine?" She kind of looked at me like, "How do I answer that? Do I admit...." So, I continued and told her that it was the same kind of thing. The best way to deal with it was to ignore it and not give them the reaction that they want.

This is easier said than done, of course. Why just today Sparkle was sprinkling milk onto her tray then rubbing her hands in it and then putting her hands in her hair. Why not? Have you SEEN what she can make Mom do when she does that? It's lots of fun.

As is usually the case when I'm trying to help Twinkle understand something, I'm reminded of lessons I need to remember as well.

2 comments:

Heather said...

An excellent lesson!

Anonymous said...

YOu know I have had these conversations with the ManChild that go something like this: "I do not like ______ and here's why" I do it very calmly, but pointing out the unhealthy/unhelpful behavior I see in one of his "friends" - amazingly enough, he has either already come to the same conclusion, or starts to see what I'm talking about. I think sometimes he needs to know that it's OK to not like someone who is mean/disrespectful to him. When I acknowledge it, he's off the hook about whether or not to keep the friend... there are even a few that I will no longer allow at the house b/c of the way they treat him...