2003-04-09 - 9:28 p.m.
QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS
Questions, questions. By the time children are teenagers, their mothers should have learned not to ask certain questions. Some mothers learn harder than others and I seem to be among them.
I never regret asking who someone is going with, where they are going, or when they will be home. I never regret asking who else may be there and what they intend to do. I rarely regret asking how the day was or whether anything funny or sad or whatever occurred. I rarely regret asking what the homework is even if I don�t necessarily get an accurate answer.
No, the questions I�m talking about are the unnecessary questions, the save-your-breath questions. The questions I�m talking about are rhetorical ones that get snappy comebacks. The questions I�m talking about are ones whose answers probably are irrelevant to life.
So why do I ask them? I just can�t seem to stop myself.
For example, I should have known better than to ask what the crayon was doing in Day-Hay�s bed. Both girls answered and I didn�t want to hear either answer. Day-Hay, in her best put-upon voice, said to ask Kat because only Kat had been using crayons in her room. Not having learned from the first response, I did ask Kat. �It�s napping,� she answered.
Then there was the little matter of the clothes on the floor. (Actually, the clothes were not little. They were medium-sized. They were Day-Hay sized�and there were a lot of them.) �What are we going to do about you having too many clothes on your floor?� I asked. Bad phrasing. Stupid phrasing. I should have said that the clothes were a problem but I didn�t. I asked that asinine question�and I got the answer that the question deserved. �Well,� suggested Day-Hay. �We can figure out how many are not �too much� and then I could throw the others down the chute.�
When the girls were little, one of the children�s programs (I think it was Sesame Street) used to repeat the phrase, �Asking questions is a good way to get information.� Not in this house. In this house, asking some questions is just likely to get you sass.
LAST YEAR: Randomly
Still Waiting
The Clutter That Ate the House
I Can See Clearly Now
Influence and Control
Day-Hay�s Bat Mitzvah Speech
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Copyright 2006 by Ellen |
