I just got back from picking up my kids from school. This is a daily activity as the school is in our neighborhood so nothing new, but today there was a little rain when school let out. You’d have thought an earthquake was raging for the pandemonium that was present.
They decided to re-route all the exiting children from the front of the school, which is normally where only the kindergarten and preschool kids wait for pick up. This meant 800 kids in one hallway. Good grief. I was happy to get my preschooler out of the hall and outside where we could wait under the umbrella for his sister. We waited, and waited….and waited. She misunderstood the re-routing instructions and exited with the bus kids going right to the car by the crosswalk. When we didn’t arrive she doubled back to the front of the school where we were waiting for her.
Now here’s the thing. I understand different measures for inclement weather, but seriously this was a little shower - not even a down pour. The kids didn’t need re-routed from their normal exits of the school. That alone would have reduced the mess by half. And drivers, good grief a little rain doesn’t change any traffic or parking laws and it certainly doesn’t give you special license to be an idiot. It’s just rain. On the open road you drive a little slower, remember the wet roads will have an impact on your ability to stop and keep your eyes open. You don’t panic and hit the brakes every two seconds.
What is it about a little rain that opens the floodgates for stupidity?
It occurs to me that we often miss the power behind the simple word how. I’m convinced that it’s not WHAT we say so much as HOW we say it. For example, I can share dread with a household chore in the way I solicit help and instruction making the entire ordeal an unpleasant battle, or if I’m in a good mood I can Mary-Poppins my kids into cleaning with smiles on their faces, convinced that everything we’re doing is some kind of game. The only thing that changed was the delivery of the message.
Last week my husband had an experience that he described to me as “getting kicked” (and it wasn’t the 4 year old’s accidental punch to the groin a few days earlier that he was talking about.) It wasn’t really what was said, but how it was said. Criticism can be a good tool to learn and grow from, and people can actually embrace it when it’s delivered well. But I am continually astounded at how many people lack this skill. Do they just think it’s unnecessary, that they are somehow above the need for tact and communication skills? Or have they just never stopped for two seconds to realize they need some polishing on it? In my husband’s case, he had ample evidence to the contrary of the negative feedback he received and it should have been the necessary balance to keep from weighing him down. But the experience was as emotionally crushing as my son’s accidental physical blow that sent him to the floor. He was unable to shake the gloom and negative air and I believe it was because of how the message was delivered.
What makes me different is my response to such experiences. I’ll be the first to admit that if I feel attacked in the approach I will immediately get defensive. I’ll come back fighting and ultimately there will be little recourse from that point on. It’s a simple truth that negative begets negative but that means the same is true of positive. So I just can’t help but wonder if more often than not, we miss the forest for the tree. Too bad there isn’t a life requirement to master the skill before being unleashed on society.
I sat down to write something yesterday at least three different times and each time “something suddenly came up” keeping me from the task. I swear sometimes trying to blog something can be just like being on the phone for this mom. See, when I’m on the phone,they just KNOW. It’s as if a little alarm goes off in my kids heads and they’ll discontinue whatever they were doing to come bug me, start fighting or cause other painful and difficult to deal with distractions while I’m talking. To their credit, I don’t think I can blame them for the blogging distractions yesterday, although this morning I can’t say I remember what those distractions were. ‘Sometimers’ disease is getting worse as I get older. Memory slips used to only happen when I’d get to a room and not be able to remember why I’d come there, having to retrace my steps to jog the memory. Sadly, the retracing doesn’t always work these days! So here I sit, unable to recall exactly what I was going to blog yesterday, but clearly remembering how many times I tried. That’s got be worth at least a “C” grade right? (more…)
I was just browsing some of the blogs at random on the 2000 project. I’m feeling very small and little bit like a one-eyed alien.
There are like a gazillion blogs with content on how to find success - be it with your blog, making money, personal development/mastery, etc. There also seems to be a general market for business or organizations who are trying to capitalize on the blogging environment for exposure and support to their efforts. And the largest personal association I’ve had with blogging is with those who use it primarily to share personal content, interests, etc.
First it was asked if you were one of the 4,400. The TV series presented the idea that the future found a way to pull people from the past and give them special abilities to alter and save the doomed future of humanity. Being part of this elite group was truly desirable. But it didn’t stop there. It grew into a Hereos concept where it is now asked if you’re on “the list”. Today, bloggers may ask if they are one of the 2000 bloggers. So I ask you….
Think there’s any heroes among the group? One way to find out…click on the picture to check them out. Happy reading discovering!
I recently found the Boomerang station on our cable again. We had to work out a few kinks with our cable provider. I’ll tell you, it’s been a painful transition from our satellite and Tivo to cable and their DVR - once you start with the best everything just plain stinks! LOL
Anyway, my son LOVES cartoons and the past week he will sit for a very long time (probably too much…but I’m blogging here!) watching back to back old cartoons. He’s loved Tom & Jerry for a while and that’s a regular we keep on the recorded list, but Boomerang cartoons rotate through so many of the great, old cartoons I grew up on. Pink Panther, Huckleberry Hound, Speed Buggy, Droopy, etc., etc., etc. It’s as much fun for me to listen to as it is for him to watch because I remember so many of them.
On Monday, I sat here and grinned for several minutes listening to him watch one of my all time favorites. It’s one with a wolf and 3 little droopy style pups. The wolf watches a teacher, driven to insanity, exit the school and inherits the teaching position when he tells him the solution is to have patience. His constant refrain is “You gotta have patience, man.” And you hear it several times through the cartoon. The pups test and try the wolf until by the end he looks at the screen repeating his refrain and adding “And man, I ain’t got no more!” Then he proceeds to do the insantiy dance you saw at the beginning from the first teacher. It’s a classic, and I’ve been known to quote the wolf more than once in my life. But now that I’m a parent I understand the humor at an entirely new level!
This week has been a patience tester for me. My sweet daughter has been on a ‘push the limits cycle’ of late and my son got sick this week. Then my husband left town last night and won’t be back until Saturday so I’ve got two full days with no reprieve or normal assistance when the work day is done. Today is starting off better, and hopefully I can hold it together as long as the wolf. I’m doing a lot more reading….LOL I guess there’s always a silver lining.
January has been good to me. It brought back Jack,Hiro and American Idol. Thanks to DVR I can watch all of them when I want/can instead of only when they air, and thankfully, I can fast forward over commercials. In fact, it’s what has me watching any TV again. And it’s the only reason I can watch anything today because I can sit down after the kids are in bed and enjoy some shows.
24 is so intense. Every season and every episode I wonder how they can possibly keep up the momentum and top the last one. And yet they do. It’s like the Vegas Casinos, they just keep getting bigger and grander although I can’t comprehend how it can keep happening or when it will top out. Thankfully, it’s not my job to figure that out, I get to just sit back (well, up in this case) and enjoy it. The graphic reality and violence of 24 makes me a little queasy sometimes, but the story line and intensity keep me coming back for more. It’s like a drug. I keep coming back waiting to see how the good guy is gonna win.
The real purpose for this post though is a second form of queasiness. It comes from the rage of reality show TV - aka, American Idol. Basically, I’m a sap. I openly admit it. No matter how funny something is, I always feel terrible for the one poked fun at - and the first couple months of the show are all about poking fun. The story of the monkeys comes to mind. A group of spectators stand in front of the monkey cage at the zoo. The big one soon learns that he gets a reaction of laughter if he beats up on the next one. Spurred on with the reaction he proceeds to steal the banana from the middle sized monkey through force. Everyone rages with laughter. The middle size one, not to be outdone and in an effort to redirect the humilation repeats the abuse and stealing act on the smallest monkey. Everyone is entertained. The smallest monkey does his best to put on a tough face, but he has no outlet. The moral being that no matter how funny it is, someone always gets hurt. And because I’m a sap, I hurt for the last man standing. (more…)
I just got back from picking up my kids from school. This is a daily activity as the school is in our neighborhood so nothing new, but today there was a little rain when school let out. You’d have thought an earthquake was raging for the pandemonium that was present.
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