Mommy Moment…
“I don’t speak Whine-ese.”
I don’t speak any foreign languages fluently. I know a few words here and there, but I’m not bilingual by any means. My kids are a different story. When they were little, they were quite fluent in “Whine-ese.” It seemed like their native tongue at times. You may have heard your own children speak a few phrases…
Why can’t I…
I boooored…
I don’t want to…
Do I HAVE to…
But they don’t have to…
Or a common favorite here, But Moooom!
Those are some of the more common phrases. I’m not sure where they learned it, but they spoke it often.
I tried to learn it. I just never got the hang of it. I couldn’t roll my eyes enough and I never did get the head flop right either.
When I would respond with, “I don’t speak Whine-ese.” I might get an eye- roll, or an “Aaah, Mom.” But they quickly returned to polite English. Do your kids speak it, too? How do you get around it?
Humor is my default setting. I try to defuse the situation using it, as you have just read. Honestly, it didn’t always work. Occasionally, one of my sweet children would continue to push. I found that the raised eyebrow look would was warning enough for them to change their attitude. At times I did have to resort to, “Do you need me to adjust your attitude for you?” They knew they I would assign an extra chore or have them do something they truly disliked if they couldn’t get passed the whining.
The Bible says that a soft answer turns away wrath. I have found that a humorous attitude can have a similar result. Just a small amount of humor can change the atmosphere in your home. It sets a different tone.
I’ve said before that moms are the thermostat in my home, not the thermometer. Maybe increasing the humor control in your house will bring the attitude temperature back up to a comfortable level for everyone.
Mommy, you got this!!
