How many times have you spoken to your children about getting things done on time only to think it has fallen on deaf ears? I have lost count, no matter how many times I say don’t put it off get it done now, I know that the morning their assignment for school is due they will hit me with an extra bit of work that is needed.
Don’t get me wrong I sit and help my children get through their work but there is always a bit of the puzzle they leave to the last minute and then it’s a mad rush in the house. Everyone starts to feel the pressure and again I hear my self say “Next time don’t leave things to the last minute it won’t finish its self.”
We have all been there with our children doing this mad dash, repeating the same sentence over and over again thinking when will this sink in…… “tidy your room, pick up your shoes, put your bag away, wash your hands….etc” these words just fall on deaf ears…. Or do they?
Just the other week while working on my sociology essay I took a break and while still sitting at the computer I was playing the dreaded Candy Crush, yes I know…. I can hear the “oh dear” from here. Then Master 11 walks past the room and I put my phone down, Candy Crush screen still open on it. He pipes up and says “really mum that 2000 words essay is not going to write its self!” Gobsmacked would be the word I would use to describe my reaction, firstly because he said it and then because my words that I thought had fallen on deaf ears had sank in!
Fast forward another week and Master 11 is doing his assignment, with only three days left to finish it he is busy playing. I walked over to him and asked how it was going and yes those words had hit home “I know mum it won’t do its self!” for the next two days he worked diligently on it and all was completed with no drama and no fuss.
So perhaps it’s not that the words don’t get heard perhaps it is rather that they are hollow words unless they see them in action from a parent. Perhaps they need to see the effect of those words on others for them to be understood. Either way I know now that the words are being heard and that they do listen and when you least expect it them may just bite you back!
Stepping Stones 