Wednesday, August 13, 2008

No thanks, I'm just looking...

How do you deal with the child who casually looks down the tops of the female mannequins in the department stores?

What do you say to the child who asks if the gas we put in our cars is the same as the gas that comes out of our bottoms?

What do you do with a child who vehemently argues that you did not tell him not to blow on the whistle again, only not to do it loudly - and then realize he's right.

My Caleb.

2 comments:

Brian said...

Caleb and I also had a heated argument last night over how I referred to the hamper as the "clothes basket". Caleb insisted that it was not a clothes basket. I finally asked him what it was and he said, "It's the dirty clothes basket."

Lance said...

Brian,
I like that example. I would be tempted in my own smart-aleckish way to press him further to make sure he intends for dirty to modify clothes and not basket. Because if he's calling the clothes basket dirty then not only is he guilty of contradicting you needlessly but you also have a penitential job for him to perform - cleaning the 'dirty' clothes basket.

On the first question, I would just ask him what he's looking for or why? It may provide further clues to proceed at that point.

With regard to the second question, I would tell him - "if it was the same gas it wouldn't cost $4 a gallon!" And I'm sure the government would regulate it somehow..