They say kids say the darndest things... and whoever "they" are is right.
Lately, Jeff, had been declaring "I'm not inclined to argue." Mom and I nearly fell off our chairs the first time we heard it. After we stopped rolling on the floor laughing and picked ourselves up we looked at Jeff and even he started laughing at what he said.
There's no denying it. Jeff (and to a lesser degree, Sam) is very inclined to argue. I've wondered if they are going to grow up to be a Packard and Packard law firm. There are times when I'm confident that they argue just because they have a mouth and a brain and because they can argue.
Basically, arguing for the sake of arguing. With their intellect and their vocabulary it makes for an interesting challenge at times. Other times it is just down right annoying and I'd rather duct tape their mouths than listen to them.
I've felt lately that sometimes we've created a couple monsters (lawyers) by encouraging our kids by verbally reinforcing how smart they are. I recently got counsel from a very wise man (my pastor) that I need to be careful to praise their character and not their performance. As I discussed this counsel with my wife we started to analyze why we always felt so inclined to praise performance. We concluded we were so tired of hearing from teachers and neighbors about how bad Jeff was that we needed to balance that with positivity and the thing most obvious to compliment was his intellect. His behavior was a challenge to compliment as I've detailed before.
So... Jeff has repeated his comment several times recently and we all seem to get a smile when he does. A sign that we are maturing as a family and that Jeff can laugh at himself - at least some times.
Now, the other times still present a challenge.
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