Thanks Dad!

I'm so thankful for the great examples that my kids have around them. We had an "incident" this morning that was solved easily, thanks to the great example of my dad.

Emma was reading a book in the living room. Micah came in, reading a poem aloud that he was trying to memorize. He was reading it quite loudly, and it was really starting to bug Emma. She asked him to be more quiet, but he ignored her. I get so tired of their petty fights sometimes. But rather than just step in once again and force Micah to be nice, I tried something else.

Me: "Micah, we're going to play a game. Pretend that you are Grandpa and you are talking on your phone. It's a really important business call and you're talking kind of loud."

Micah: "Hi. This is Mike. I need some more bags of Doritos and Cheetos delivered to my store today!"

Me: "Now, imagine that Emma asked you to be quiet because she was trying to read. Remember that you're Grandpa. What would Grandpa do?"

Micah: "He would probably leave the room and go talk somewhere else."

Me: "Why would he do that? Is he weak? If he does what a little girl wants him to do, doesn't that make him weak?"

Micah: (very defensively) "No, Grandpa is strong! He's strong (light beginning to dawn) . . . . and well-mannered and kind."

Then he left the room and went to practice his poem somewhere else.

Thanks Dad!