One Particular Harbour
Thoughts about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness from Dave Darby.
All posts in Parenting
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How do you know what it means?
Dec 26, 2010Posted by Dave Darby
Read more »A very old Chinese man and his young son lived during a period of much civil strife. They were considered rich by the villagers because they owned a horse.
One morning, the son awoke to find his horse had run away. Running to his father, he informed him of this tragedy, saying this was the worst thing that could have happened. His father, in all his wisdom, replied, “Is that so? How do you know what it means?”
The next day, as the boy was working in the barn, he heard the sound of horses galloping in the distance. When he looked up he saw his horse leading a herd of wild ponies to him. Seeing this, he ran to the house shouting, “The horse has come back leading a herd. This is the greatest thing that’s ever happened!” In all his wisdom, the old man replied once again: “Is that so? How do you know what it means?”
That afternoon, the boy decided to tame one of the ponies. As he proudly sat atop the new-found gift, the horse bucked, throwing the boy to the ground causing a broken collarbone and a fractured arm. As he was placed in his bed by his father, he said, “All those horses coming – that’s the worst thing that could have happened.” Once again, the old man spoke: “Is that so? How do you know what it means?”
The next day, father and son were abruptly awakened by the sound of militia knocking on their door. They were here to take the boy to fight in the civil war. The old man said, “There he is, take him.” The captain took one look and said, “He’s useless to us,” and left. The boy said, “This is the best luck I’ve ever had.” And the old man, in his wisdom replied, “Is that so? How do you know what it means?”
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From Our Mouths to Their Ears (and Mouths)
Mar 30, 2009Posted by Dave Darby
Read more »We must shop late at night. The girls are playing ‘store’ and Nicole just said over the ‘store microphone’ “Attention shoppers, we will be closing in 5 minutes. Please gather your items and proceed to checkout.” Clearly she has other things to do!
Kind of reminds me of my Buckeyes playing (very loose interpretation) the Gators for the national title a few years ago – on my birthday no less. Olivia (2 at the time) walked around the next stay shouting “Damnit!” in a very aggravated tone. Still aggravated, I didn’t mind.
Which is also reminiscent of the story my mother loves to tell about the time we were rough-housing in the back of a parked pickup truck. I went over the gate backwards and upon landing bit my tongue in half. My mother lost sight of me for a moment while signing me out and rushed to find me. As she turned the corner, she heard the policeman ask me, “That’s horrible! What are you going to do to Joey when you get home?” to which I replied with my tongue taped/glued together “I’m going to go home and kick his ath.”
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Time's A Tickin
Jan 16, 2009Posted by Dave Darby
Read more »I threw the kids another curve ball today. A routine cleaning drill with a twist. It went like this:
“It’s 5 o’clock. You’re all going to bed at 10pm. If the house is clean at 5:20, then no worries, no changes. However, for every minute past 5:20, you will lose 5 minutes of freedom (e.g. goto bed earlier).”
Man did those kids scatter, communicate and clean like a mutha.
Why were they so motivated? Friday is the only night we watch tv regularly. We all like to catch Ghost Whisperer and Numb3rs.
It also worked beause we are not strict about bed times and the kids enjoy that freedom – most kids enjoy that. Obiously if your kids are in public school and it was a school night, this would have to be adjusted accordingly, but this works for most anybody in most any situation.
The results? They were 20 minutes late. So when they toed the line, we did the math and calculated a bed time of 8:20p. Bummer. They were not happy.
Now for this next part to work, you have to sometimes send them to bed as promised. But tonight, I gave them a reprieve and was very clear about the reason. Simply put, they worked so hard, so fast and communicated and worked together. That’s reward and lesson enough.
So I reset their time to 10p and may extend to include Numb3rs if they knock down dinner cleanup. House is clean, kids feel rewarded and parents taught good work ethic and teamwork. Win, win, win baby.