Overheard

Yesterday afternoon, Gracie made a decision that greatly imperiled her otherwise happy-go-lucky life.

The backstory is that we have been tweaking our communication style. Specifically, we have been working on correctly framing questions and requests versus merely sticking a "please" on the end of a sentence.

For example:

Instead of: "I want some milk. Please."
We have been encouraging: "May I have some milk, please?"

We have also been working on how to respectfully interact with peers, elders and persons of authority, and how we might not speak the same way to teachers as peers, etc., although we are respectful to all. This was prompted by Gracie's proclamation during a drive home from school one day that "Ms. Diana was arguing with me." Ms. Diana is her teacher. We explained that, with only a razor thin margin for exception, if there is any arguing in the student-teacher dynamic, it is most likely the student who has initiated the argument. I concluded by explaining that, at this juncture, I could see no reason for her to argue with her teacher and that it sounded as if she may have been speaking inappropriately to Ms. Diana.

Fast-forward to yesterday, Gracie had a minor spill, and I helped her clean her spill with a wipe. After finishing, I handed the wipe to Gracie and said, "Take this to the garbage can, please."

I heard a good deal of mumbling/muttering on the way to the trash can, but I couldn't make out what she was saying until she was on her way back through to go play. The portions I could make out were:

"That's not how you say it."
"You say, 'Will you take this to the garbage can, please?'"
and
"That's not how you talk to me."

Finally, when she was approaching me she finished off by looking me in the eye and saying, "That's not nice. Momma, you don't talk to Gracie that way."

There was some fall out from that exchange, to be sure, but we had to laugh once she left the room.