When I was eighteen, and my older brother had just gotten married, I was dying to get a niece or nephew--now I have three nieces and one nephew (nowhere near as many as Melissa, but still fun). And when the kids come to visit, I make a special effort to be the favorite relative--and then I give them back to their parents.
At a recent family dinner, I was sitting next to my seven-year-old niece, Rebecca. When Rebecca reached over and snitched a piece of turkey off the platter with her hands (as opposed to a fork), her mom got after her for not using good manners.
I leaned over and said, "Snitching's okay--you just have to make sure no one is watching."
Kristine, her mom said, "That's right. But someone is always watching. So you can't ever take food off the plate with your hands."
"True, someone is always watching, but some people don't care whether you snitch food. Adam [my younger brother who also has no children] might be watching, but he really doesn't care," I explained. Adam affirmed this. "And I don't care. And Grandma Marshall [my 83-year-old grandmother] doesn't care. So really you just have to be careful not to snitch when your mom watching."
Rebecca really appreciated this little insight into life--even if her mom didn't.
9 years ago
