My friend Morgan was babysitting my son the other night when a very serious conversation ensued.  It went a little something like this:

Donovan:  I am very upset and sad, Morgan.

Morgan: Tell me why, Donovan.

Donovan:  I don’t know if I can tell you.

Morgan:  Yes, yes, Donovan, you can tell me anything.  Come over here and sit in my lap please tell me…is it school?  Are you upset with your friends?  Did something happen at the playground?

Donovan:  I don’t think I can tell you, but I can tell you I am very upset.

And so the conversation went for an excruciating 20 minutes until finally with much coaxing, much lap holding, much hair smoothing, Donovan said, “Well Morgan, I am so sad because …I don’t like your dress.”

You little ….

It wasn’t hard to guess why this little scenario had played out.  The previous night Donovan had told me my running shoes were ugly.

“Donovan,” I said. “If you don’t have something nice to say them don’t say it”

Apparently he thought if he couched his negative statement under a shroud of dismay and concern that it might be all right if he went ahead and dogged her dress anyway.  The problem is, it’s a hard lesson to learn when you’ve got an older brother who is currently in a constant state of criticizing.  It seems that in his world, nothing can be right:

Would you like ice cream? Is that the ONLY kind we have?

Tacos or burritos?  Steak.

Water or juice? Coke.

Pick you up at 11 or 11? Neither

Love ya. Whatever.

Hello. Bye.

And so we are working on being a bit more positive around here.  If we don’t get this worked out pretty soon we can pretty much kiss our free babysitters goodbye because not getting paid and getting insulted at the same token doesn’t sound too enticing I’m sure.