"NOPE"

So my husband got a really fun game for Christmas this past year. "Exploding Kittens". It's not as hostile or vulgar as it sounds - in fact it's quite fun, and leads to some interesting family alliances.

Anyway - one of the cards you an play is the "nope" card.
It negates any other card anyone plays.

So this is not a game tutorial - the story continues.......

We were sitting all together watching a movie/tv last Saturday night - and my eldest son James - said something under his breath and the boys laughed.
Brian and I both asked what the joke was - to which he replied - no nothing... but I had heard the word 'mom' so we pressed on.
The joke was on me - that he was referring to the fact that I say NO a lot - like a hand full of nope cards.

SO: 
1) I didn't take it personally because it's true - I do - at home. It's my mom personae - the rule regulator. I tend to catch mistakes instead of good and I'm working on this. Parenting has not come naturally to me - and I tend to follow after the only model I had (my mother) who was VERY strict and well.... 
...this is not even about the word No...

It's about the fact that whether you like it or not - your kids know you, and read as clearly as that Nope card we all loved to play.

Whether it's the personae you think you portray or not - they get to know you really well.

So the question is:
What cards are in your hand today? - which ones will you lay on the table>? Which cards 'name' you?


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"How do you measure a year in the life?"

Image
How about love..........? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvyHuse6buY https://40.media.tumblr.com/15076e176eefe1a2a7138caee69fa67f/tumblr_mlfd1gBlnw1qad707o1_500.jpg One of my ALL TIME favorite musicals - RENT! As this year draws to an end I have to reflect back on HOW I chose to measure this year: it's successes - it's failures, it's moments that have brought me to tears or to uncontrollable laughter. I know for sure that the number of cups of coffee have kept a certain (cough cough K cup company in business). For the first time as an ELL specialist I have had the privilege to work with High School students - which have been my highlight of my day (most days). They have inquired about language, life and have invited me into their homes. The family dynamic has never been so important to me as an educator, after meeting these students - and their families. Isn't that ironic - as we usually see 'hands off' attitudes on either side of the partnership at...
Read more

2016 One Word: Intentional

I returned this past Saturday after spending one week in Taiwan and experienced two of the most emotionally difficult days of my adult life, as well as spending Christmas on a 14.5 hour flight and New Years in a hotel room with my son sleeping beside me. #1: Meeting my new son (Edward- aged 12), sitting in court and committing to be his legal guardian and then having to say goodbye for two or so more months before he joins our family. #2: Then visiting a women's prison a mere 15 minutes away from our hotel with my middle son to see his birth mother. Watching tears stream down first her face, and then his - and having to leave that tiny bleak room, knowing that he may never see her again. It wasn't until Sunday morning when we were taking down our Christmas tree, when my eldest adopted son (James-now aged 18) responded to my almost rhetorical question with a nugget of wisdom I needed to hear again. I nonchalantly asked: "how come it takes so much longer to put this ...
Read more

Finding your way - when the path is covered.

Image
I've been meaning to take a picture of a creek near my house - for well, way before the snow even fell. It's a perfectly meandering creek that seems to take the longest winding way to get to it's destination. I remember learning all about this in geography class in high school (yea, a few decades ago). It fascinated me then and still does today. I love this short animated video to explain why this happens:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a3r-cG8Wic "...the meandering rivers may seem tame and lazy.... but out on the open plains those stony walls give way to soft soil allowing rivers to shift their banks and set their own ever changing courses to the sea. Courses that almost never run straight " What poetic language to describe the flow of water! And boy does it resonate! I feel like that meandering river out on the open plain this year. Not that I'm on soft soil, in fact my foundation has never been more set. It's just that as roadblocks/obstruct...
Read more