Anyone who has kids that are at least 2 years old knows that it’s occasionally a struggle to get them to listen. I’m convinced that many children have a Parent-to-kid translator built into their brains, because they have the magical ability to hear something completely different from what we say.
It’s kind of like the game “telephone” that we all played growing up. Somewhere between our voices and their ears, the message gets all garbled. Here are a few examples of the “lost in translation” phenomenon:
What We Say
Please don’t jump on the couch.What They Hear
You know that living room trampoline I call the couch? You can jump on it if I’m not looking.
What We Say
Don’t hit your sister.What They Hear
Don’t hit your sister. But you can pinch her and pull her hair all you’d like… oh, and you can hit her.
What We Say
It’s time to go to bed.What They Hear
Please think of everything that you could have possibly wanted to do in the last two hours (but didn’t), do it all, and then go to bed.
What We Say
Eat your vegetables.What They Hear
Push your vegetables around the plate while you complain about the dinner I just made for you.
What We Say
Clean up your room.What They Hear
Put your toys away until you find one that you like, then use that toy to make your room messier.
What We Say
No, you can’t have that toy. You already have enough toys at home.What They Hear
No, you can’t have that toy… unless you throw a colossal tantrum right here in the store. If you do that, I’ll buy you two of them.
My oldest is only 6, so I know I’m missing some great parent-to-child translation mixups that come when you hit the tween and teen years. I’m looking forward to your additions to this list — comment below with your personal favorites.
A recent “miscommunication” at our house occured when I told my son that he couldn’t watch any more television that evening, and he asked, “what if I change the channel?”
You got a little negotiator on your hands don’t you