Growing up with brothers made the phrase, 'only the strong survive', a reality to me. So, the Good Lord knew what He was doing when He gave me sons to raise. Boys are pretty easy going and when you scold them, they either concede or reap the consequences but it's not a big deal. They quickly move on to the next adventure. Not so with little girls.
As I experience life around my precious grandgirls, I notice that they *melt* easily. Once, our little Maeve, who was about 18 months old at the time, decided to open one of my kitchen drawers which contained sharp, non-kid-friendly objects. She was looking right at me as she slowly pulled it open. I shook my head and firmly but quietly said, "no." Within a split second, she melted onto the floor in a puddle of tears, wailing as if she had been seriously injured. Paul came to see what was wrong and I said, "All I did was tell her no." Paul said, "Oh, I thought she got hurt. Why is she crying like that?" "I don't know but I think I'm going to find a different way to tell her no from now on."
This evening Paul and I babysat Ryleigh who recently celebrated her first birthday. She and I were playing with her toys on the floor when she pointed to a wall socket and said, "What's that?" Of course, my daughter-in-law had taken precautions by installing very fancy hi-tech childproof gadgets into the sockets. However, in the event that Ryleigh was ever confronted with an electrical socket that was not secure, I said in my serious voice, "Don't touch. Hot. No-no." Then...she melted...instantly. Big tears and mournful sobs. It was all very pitiful.
My other grandgirls are older and I can reason with them but it usually entails a bit of bribery and ends up costing me something but I don't mind - as long as they don't melt!
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