You’re not listening to me!
That statement is heard quite a bit around our house. But surprisingly, it’s not the parental units uttering that phrase, but rather screamed out by a 4yr old.
The first time I heard G yell this out, I realized two things:
1) It’s really used improperly
2) I really have to watch when I use it
Let me elaborate on the first. “You’re not listening to me”, in G’s case is used to mean “You’re not doing what I’m asking you to do.” Quite frankly, I think a lot of people say this and mean exactly what he does. I’ve caught myself saying exactly that, and since then I’ve stopped. But I also noticed one of the teachers in G’s classroom say “You need to listen.”, when really they meant “You need to do what I asked”. Quite frankly, G really DOES hear what we say. He just chooses to ignore us.
So now, I am pretty explicit on what I need him to do.
Of course, this doesn’t exactly help when he’s pissed off that we’re not following his demands, so now we’re also clear on saying “Yes, I am listening you to. You asked for BLAH-BLAH-BLAH. I’m just not going to do what you asked.”
Pretty funny the things kids pick up on.
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