I Know What "They" Say

I know I should correct my children in the affirmative (as in, "Walk, please" instead of "Don't run!"). I know it's supposed to be more encouraging and edifying and all that jazz, but I admit I frequently, well, don't. I do not.

I'm starting to think the suggestion of affirmative correction is more for my sake than for theirs. Otherwise it gets to be afternoon and I feel like all I've done is told people what NOT to do all day.

This brings me to another thing I think about. The boggling amount of things you must teach your children how (or how NOT!!!) to do.

For instance:

It's not just, "Sit down and eat your dinner." You can tell this to a room of twentysomethings and they know all that this directive entails.

"Sit down (in your, not your siblings) chair (as opposed to the nearby stool or piano bench) (sit on your bottom) (also sit still, don't rock back and forth, don't flail your arms, don't thrash your head) and eat (as opposed to: ram it with your fork, stir it wildly, flick it in the air, chew obscenely and then spit out) your dinner (don't ask for fruit snacks, cookies or juice). Thanks"