Thanksgiving can be a real challenge for parents. Kids can complicate a complex social gathering when they turn their noses at Aunt Elva’s oyster dressing, among other delicacies. So I’ll help you by advising how to deal with picky eaters at Thanksgiving.
I wrote a post in 2014 entitled How do you know when criticism isn’t working. We all face criticism if we do anything of value. One of the most common reasons we face criticism is unrealistic expectations.
We don’t expect a dog to wash dishes, much less do it perfectly. We can’t expect a child to act like an adult. Yesterday, I witnessed a mom trying to reason with a toddler about leaving the playground. I felt for the mom because the child wasn’t interested in a logical argument. It just wasn’t going to work!
The pandemic has caused all of us to reevaluate our expectations. It’s going to be a while before business and society get back-to-normal. We don’t know what normal will look like in six months, much less a year!
When you have unrealistic expectations…
You probably can’t have your dog wash the dishes or the cat tidy up the kitchen. But you may find a better way to meet the goal. And perhaps an alternative timeline is the way to go.
We all know someone who is determined. Another word for it is stubborn. Anybody who has a pet that doesn’t do quite what they want it to do probably considers the fur baby stubborn. Of course, the pet is probably thinking the same thing about its owner!
Determination will be as valuable and desirable as an asset as a nice stash of bathroom tissue was six weeks or so ago. We will need to be determined to bring the economy back online. This doesn’t mean we must be determined to make things the way they were. Rather, we will need to use ingenuity, creativity, and patience to make things work in a new reality.
Let’s all lead the way to a new way of doing things. Let’s be as determined as a little dog that really wants to go to school.
When my wife and I began married life, we lived in an upstairs apartment. Our downstairs neighbor had a little dog named Happy. It was ironic because the pooch never seemed to be happy. The poor thing would spend all of her time barking at everything whenever she was outside. As a young adult, I thought it was quite annoying.
Four years later, my wife and I had our first child. When the baby cried, I thought of how ungracious I felt when the dog would bark. I realized a crying baby could be just as annoying to neighbors as a yapping dog.
Nearly twenty-eight years later, that same child is working from home during the quarantine in Phoenix, Arizona. He rents a room from a couple and has to do most of his work from the room because of client privacy rules. Next door, a young vocalist has been practicing. She has been robust in her vocal practice and in singing opera. It’s amazing how things come full circle.
We are living in a time where we may be more aware of our neighbors and their activities than before the quarantine. It is taking some patience and some agapé love to get us through it.
The Washington Post has a great article on ways to work with and be patient with your neighbor during the lockdown. It focuses on apartment dwellers. But considering my son’s situation, it could also apply to suburbanites.
In the end, remember to love your neighbor and show patience to them and their little quirks. If you think about it, you may have a few of your own.
When I drew this, we had a dog and a cat that didn’t always get along. They had a nervous pact that sometimes degenerated into a brawl. But the cat was there first. The cat ruled the roost and the dog knew it. She wasn’t the least bit happy about it, but she knew our kitty was the alpha male.
At least the dog would have relished our walks. I have seen so many people walking their dogs these days. People are reconnecting with their canines and that is a good thing. It’s some good exercise for the puppies as well as their owners.
So how are your pets faring in the middle of the COVID-19 stay-at-home party? Are they bringing you some peace or are they getting a little stir crazy as well?
