Friday Fun: Who's the Boss

Who does “bossy” better that a big sister?

I’m the oldest of five siblings. My dad worked from sun up to sun down almost every day of the week, and my mom relied heavily on me to help her out with the other kids.

I took this responsibility very, very seriously.  

At this point in the story, my younger self would have inserted a creepy “Bwaaaa-haa-haaa-ha!”  but my older self feels a little badly for my brothers and sisters and all the mental and emotional scarring I no doubt caused with my overbearing ways.

To get them to do what I wanted, I blackmailed and threatened.

I yelled and threatened.

I manipulated and threatened.

 

And I withheld the thing they all loved most dearly – Nacho Cheese Doritos.

I thought of myself as the righteous Ruler of the People, overseer of the living room, sleeping arrangements, television, toy box and that wonderful red bag of orange, crunchy yumminess. In reality, I was the castle ogre. How did they put up with me?

Bossiness must be an issue in more than my childhood home though, because the teachers felt a need to perform not one, but three skits on the subject during this morning’s Time to Shine production: 

Skit #1 starring Mrs. Luchterhand and Miss Luchterhand

"I believe I can fly! I believe I can touch the..."  "Mrs. Luchterhand! Mrs. Luchterhand! Why are you singing? This room is a mess. Clean it up!"

"It's not so bad. I'll get to it after my favorite song is over." "Um, no. Clean it up now. I can't stand it."

"And that bag better get picked up too. What a mess!"

"I'll do it when I'm good and ready, Miss L! Give me back my ear buds!"

"I believe I can TOUCH the sky!"              " Ooooooohhhh..."

"Don't make me have to show you how it's done, Mrs. Luchterhand!"

"I can handle it Miss L. Leave me alone."

"You call that cleaning up?!"

"You CALL that CLEANING UP?!!"

"Give me those ear buds. How can you do a good job cleaning up unless you can HEAR me tell you how to do it?"

"I clean up just fine without you telling me what to do!"

"Then why does does the room still look like this? Why is the bag still rumpled on the floor?"

"Well, Miss L... you go right ahead and show me how to do it..."

"First you perfectly flatten the bag..."

"...then you align each side..."

"...now you fold it like so... then like that... then..."

"Hey! Are you even listening to me?"

"I told you that you do not clean up while listening to music! How can you hear me tell you what to do?"

"Now, what was right in this skit? What was wrong? What should we have done??"

"PRACTICE CONFLICT RESOLUTION!!"

 Skit #2 starring Mrs. Konopasek and Mrs. Cyr

"Here we are, cooking in the Culinary Arts kitchen. La la la..."

"I'm going to make some brownies."

Brownies? Let me see!

"That's NOT how you make brownies in the Culinary Arts kitchen Mrs. Konopasek! You can't use a box mix!"

"Don't tell me how to make brownies Mrs. Cyr. These are MY brownies."

"Fine! Make the dumb mix then!    Hey, now what are you doing?"

"You can't add baking powder to a mix! Stop it!"

"I just did. I want them all puffy and fluffy."

"You are not making these brownies correctly Mrs. Konopasek! I can't let you do this!"

"I'll make them however I want Mrs. Cyr. They're MY brownies."

"Next, I'll add the pepperoni..."    "Pepperoni?!  NOOOOOOOO!!!"

"I can't let you put pepperoni in the brownies!"

"Eeewwwwww!!!"    "Fine, nobody's getting any brownies then..."

"What went wrong here?"

"What should we have done?"

"Practice Conflict Resolution?"

Skit #3 starring Miss Pollard and Mrs. Kolkman

Yawn!! "Time for bed!"

Shhhhhh!! Mrs. Kolkman is sleeping so soundly...

"Yep Mom! I'm just getting back to the school. I know it's 4 o'clock in the morning..."

"Da da dee... It's so good to be back... Mrs. Kolkman is snoring away. I can't wait to get to bed..."

"...as soon as I find my jammies."        "What are you doing?!  It's 4 o'clock in the morning! Couldn't you see that I was sleeping?"

"Mom, mom? Mrs. Kolkman is yelling at me again. Yep. It happens every day."

"Here's your blasted pajamas! I'll show you what to do with these things since you obviously don't know that you're supposed to be sleeping in them at 4 o'clock in the morning!"

"I'll use them to cover my ears so I don't have to listen to all the racket you're making!"

"Now stop all the noise and LET ME SLEEP!!!"

"No, YOU stop all your noise and let me unpack!"

"Aaahhhhh!!!"

"Why are you doing this to me?!"

"How can I continue to live like this?! Miss Pollard is driving me crazy!"

"Who knows what we should have done in this situation?

"PRACTICE CONFLICT RESOLUTION!"

The Conflict Resolution steps:

1. Tell the person what they did that you didn’t like.

      2. Tell the person how you feel about what they did.

      3. Tell the person what you would like them to do instead.

      4. Ask for an agreement.

 

      So, my take-away from this morning's skits - before ordering someone to do something, or first thing after being bossed around, put the Conflict Resolution steps into practice and avoid a lot of unpleasantness.

 

      Read them, memorize them and do them. 

      

      Now. Right now. 

   

      Because I said so.

 

Those teachers are goofy!

These skits are always fun.

I like Friday mornings!

Shepherds College - Guiding Your Transition to Appropriate Independence. Please visit us at www.shepherdscollege.edu.