Personality Test
Supper preparations are a hectic time in our house. The kids wake at 5:30, and spend the next 15-20 minutes whining at my feet until I put supper on their trays. This is an improvement from a couple months ago when they’d scream at my feet until supper was on their trays.
Lately, though, I’ve pushed supper back toward 6:00 or later. Everyone seems to be napping a little later, their naptime is my only break time, so why wake them? If I can browse the Internet for a few extra minutes instead of getting a head start on cutting meat into pieces smaller than a toddler’s airway, then I’ll take the time to prepare a little more for this weekend’s pivotal football games.
I let the kids sleep in too long this afternoon. The parenting spark that propels me to meet my children’s needs and snatch a screwdriver from their hands before it enters an electrical socket wasn’t there, so I let the kids sleep until it returned.
When I ran out of Internet to read and the spark still hadn’t shown up, I drug myself to open their doors anyway. The kids stumbled from their rooms, whined for a minute, and quickly realized food they weren’t going to eat anything soon.
Abbie busied herself with books while the boys ran outside. That alone summarizes their personality differences. Abbie loves to read. The boys love to play outside. It’s an oversimplification since Abbie loves playing outside too, but it works. When she goes outside, she usually insists I come too so I can help her with swinging, inspecting the trees, and picking up her brothers so she can push them down again.
Several minutes later when supper was ready, I called the boys inside. They were busy playing in their playhouse, so it took a few hollers. Their playhouse is one of those toddler-sized houses that helps children build their imagination through pretend play, or helps build their coordination through climbing on and jumping off the roof. When the boys realized I was calling them to eat, they both moved to the actual house in unique ways. Ian ran out the door on the far side of the playhouse and walked around it, taking the longer path of least resistance. Tory climbed out the playhouse window that faces the real house, taking the shortest path.
Maybe this reveals the foundation of their personalities. Ian is the traditionalist. Tory won’t let anything stop him. Abbie waits until I’m around to do the work for her. If I could exploit this, I might get them to help me put food on the table a few minutes earlier.
Lately, though, I’ve pushed supper back toward 6:00 or later. Everyone seems to be napping a little later, their naptime is my only break time, so why wake them? If I can browse the Internet for a few extra minutes instead of getting a head start on cutting meat into pieces smaller than a toddler’s airway, then I’ll take the time to prepare a little more for this weekend’s pivotal football games.
I let the kids sleep in too long this afternoon. The parenting spark that propels me to meet my children’s needs and snatch a screwdriver from their hands before it enters an electrical socket wasn’t there, so I let the kids sleep until it returned.
When I ran out of Internet to read and the spark still hadn’t shown up, I drug myself to open their doors anyway. The kids stumbled from their rooms, whined for a minute, and quickly realized food they weren’t going to eat anything soon.
Abbie busied herself with books while the boys ran outside. That alone summarizes their personality differences. Abbie loves to read. The boys love to play outside. It’s an oversimplification since Abbie loves playing outside too, but it works. When she goes outside, she usually insists I come too so I can help her with swinging, inspecting the trees, and picking up her brothers so she can push them down again.
Several minutes later when supper was ready, I called the boys inside. They were busy playing in their playhouse, so it took a few hollers. Their playhouse is one of those toddler-sized houses that helps children build their imagination through pretend play, or helps build their coordination through climbing on and jumping off the roof. When the boys realized I was calling them to eat, they both moved to the actual house in unique ways. Ian ran out the door on the far side of the playhouse and walked around it, taking the longer path of least resistance. Tory climbed out the playhouse window that faces the real house, taking the shortest path.
Maybe this reveals the foundation of their personalities. Ian is the traditionalist. Tory won’t let anything stop him. Abbie waits until I’m around to do the work for her. If I could exploit this, I might get them to help me put food on the table a few minutes earlier.
posted by Matt at
11:28 PM
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