Whenever my niece and nephew have visited us over the last 14 years, Brian and I have instituted a 'no whining' zone. This started with just our house, then eventually grew to cover the entire state. As a result, Alex and Kristen have no tolerance for any whining performed by Brian or myself.
Which brings me to a conversation I had with them this afternoon. I'm not entirely sure how it started, but the two of them accused me of being a whiner.
"I hate gardening?", they said. "Sure sounds like whining to us".
"Have you read it?", I asked.
When they responded in the negative, I suggested they not talk about something of which they know nothing. They, of course, said they could talk all they wanted, since the title in itself was whiney. Can you believe it? Those darned kids!
So, Kristen and Alex... if you ever deign to read this, or any other article in my blog... know that ranting is very different from (although somewhat related to) whining, and that if it is funny, well, it is less irritating than standard whining. So just get over it!
Ha! Maybe you should all come to our house and implement your rule here. Suddenly, in the last two weeks, Taran has mastered the art of whining. He learns new things everyday which is quite fun and exciting, but the whining is one skill I would not have missed witnessing.
ReplyDeleteTry starting with a room... like the kitchen. That becomes a no whining zone. Once that is mastered, keep building up until the entire state is a no whining zone. After a while, the world is your oyster and whine free. It probably works better as a non-parent. My tolerance for whining and birds is much less than that of parents and bird owners. Hmmmmm.
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