A few minutes ago, my oldest declared, "I'm thirsty." And before I could stop myself, I responded, "Hi Thirsty, I'm Fred. Nice to meet you." Yes, I know I should have just used my own name, because her response was, "I am not playing Scooby Doo." (And yes, my five-year-old has watched Scooby Doo, which in some parenting circles takes me out of the running for Supreme-Mom-of-the-Universe, but that is another topic.) So I corrected myself, "Hi Thirsty, I'm Abbie." And just like that, I got a polite request for a drink.
When I was a kid, my parents employed that technique with some regularity, and the lame attempt at humor annoyed the heck out of me. It was one of those phrases I, in my pre-parent life was never going to use. This morning it slipped out by accident. Why? Because from a parental point of view, corny humor is so much nicer than, yet another, "what-do-you-say, my-ears-can't-hear-that, that-is-not-how-you-ask", or what ever other phrase is used to try to cajole some sense of respect and manners out of the little darlings. And at five, my girl thinks it's funny. I know I'll have to come up with another technique in a few years, when I will be incapable of saying anything funny, but I'll enjoy this for now.
