No, YOU Shut Up

I was reading today about a 14-year study that has shown that the way mothers talk to their children at a young age influences their social skills later in childhood. To quote the study, "children whose mothers often talked to them about people's feelings, beliefs, wants and intentions developed better social understanding than children whose mothers did not."

On one hand, I think I'm good at this. I talk to the kids a lot about empathy and respect and consideration. On the other hand, I'm not sure if there's a positive result when your kids, specifically your 4-year-old, tell you to shut up.

Like last night. I was giving them all the 'what for' because they were acting like banshees. Truly. Do all kids act this way? You would've thought their behinds were on fire the way they were tearing through the house, out the back door (which they'd slam), then through the side door and onto the couch. Every time they'd pass through Abby would swing a light saber at them and yell "BAM!" and Tag the Dog would lurch and bark. It was quickly becoming a Calgon Take Me Away moment.

But after I calmed them down and explained to them that I didn't like them treating my things (the couch) that way and it wasn't fair that I would have to clean up their mess, Jake said, "Shut up Mom."

So I put him in time out, which went over well, and when I told them all that they should never tell me or any other grown up to shut up, Sam asked, "But what if you REALLY need to quit talking?"

It was as much a request as a question.