You Can't Teach This

Sorry, I couldn't resist the opportunity to pun MC Hammer.

Seriously though . . while there are certain things you can definitely teach your children, I don't believe passive-agressiveness is one of them. I myself have been known to be a bit passive-agressive at times, but not because I was taught the approach by anyone in particular. I just kind of fell in to it on my own. From the looks of this note, Avery's picking it up nicely on her own as well. Gotta make you proud, eh?



What you see before you is our grocery list, which we keep on the refrigerator. Below the small list of things we need to pick up is a note from Avery . . "Corey, what about my checklist?"

The checklist she's referring to is for her daily chores. Her weekly allowance is tied to the checklist, and I'll admit it's been quite some time since we last printed the checklist or paid the allowance. She's asked me once or twice just recently, but with all that's going on I imagine she just didn't want to push the issue. So, instead, she's resorted to dropping hints.

I actually quite like the approach . . this way instead of me having the opportunity to snap at her for being impatient about the list, she's placed the onus squarely on me. "Just get around to it eventually" this note says to me. Great, now don't I feel like the big jerk. Needless to say, I printed out her new-and-improved checklist yesterday and have recommitted to paying her the allowance. She even asked to have more chores added to her list for this go-round. I put her in charge of dumping the compost and taking the recycling out to the garage. That was worth an extra dollar a week to her, so I'm all for it. Say what you want about passive-agressive not being the best approach to solving problems, it seems to have worked perfectly for Avery this time.