I was a real crankypants today.

[conuly]

This is a pity, because the nieces were actually being (mostly) awesome. I don't know why I was in such a snappish mood, but I tried to rein it in.

Ana has a new folder, her Science Homework folder. As she said... "It's like my homework folder, or my Spanish folder, and it's a BIG RESPONSIBILITY, we have to keep track of it. Like my Spanish folder, which is.... Hey, you know, I think I accidentally left my Spanish folder at school! Weird. Why are you laughing, Connie?"

Evangeline won, though. We were eating dinner (salad, pasta with sausage, broccoli) and their table manners were really deplorable (or maybe they weren't and I was just being bitchy, I'm actually not sure) and at one point I opened my mouth to tell Ana to stop kicking or holding her fork in a really awkward way or eating with her fingers or I don't know what... and was promptly shut up by Evangeline going "Connie! Don't talk with your mouth full!"

I just about choked to death right then and there, but I recovered enough to say "You're right, thanks" only to get "Wait, tell me after you finish your food."

So maybe I'm the one with deplorable manners! Who knew?

I do have a serious thing to say, though. Yesterday I got started telling the nieces riddles. Not the type of riddle that asks "What do you get when you cross a pigeon with a parrot?" nor yet the type that asks "What's the difference between a train and a teacher". I'm talking about the classics, up to and including "What walks on four legs in the morning..."

Surprisingly, the girls figured the last one out all on their own! Not only that, but Evangeline memorized it after one run-through. When she asked me the riddle today I pointed out that I already knew, and, in fact, have known the answer for a very long time, but suggested she ask her teacher tomorrow.

That said, I need more riddles. More of the less joke-y type. H E L P!

(Also, my plan to teach Evangeline cursive this summer has been altered in light of the fact that she's already trying to write cursive now. Um. Yeah, I wasn't ready for that. Ana's response was incredibly blase. "You didn't do that right, Eva isn't spelled E U A." I was more "Wow, I can... uh... read that!")

Comments

[redbird]

Would some of the riddles in the "Riddles in the Dark" chapter of The Hobbit be good? (If you don't know the book, I can find them for you.)

[conuly]

Maybe, and I just recently got a new-to-me copy, a very nicely illustrated one. (Actually, I never could get into The Hobbit, but that's beside the point.)

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

Googling "Anglosaxon riddles" comes up with quite a lot on the subject, but I'm not convinced that many moderm readers, even adults, would get them.

[conuly]

No, but it gives me a few ideas. Thanks :)

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Talking with your mouth full while correcting a child's table manners is certainly not setting the good example you would like to set, no. However, I regret to say that Evangeline did indeed win the Bad Manners Prize for 'correcting' your table manners.

Here's how it works: you have the right to correct their table manners because you are their Auntie, and responsible for instructing them. They are not responsible for instructing you; therefore it is both rude and highly impertinent (because you are their mentor) for them to attempt to 'correct' you.

Children are not the social equals of adults, and it does them a grave disservice to let them think they are, because then the adult world will think them rude and disrespectful, and treat them accordingly. The fact is, adults are rude and disrespectful to children a great deal, and there isn't much the children can do to stop this, but that doesn't mean the kids have a right to be rude back.

So: children may not correct the manners of adults, ever. Adults may (politely) correct the manners of children in their charge, who are to accept and comply with this correction. Adults may not correct the manners of children not in their charge, nor of other adults, even their spouses or their adult children or grandchildren. See Miss Manners' Guide to Rearing Perfect Children (http://www.amazon.com/Manners-Guide-Rearing-Perfect-Children/dp/0743244176) for a more detailed explanation of how this works, and what to do in awkward situations, like when one's mother uses terrible table manners in front of one's children.

I have had this conversation more times, and with more different children, than I can count - usually in its briefest form, simply reminding them that children are not in charge, and may not correct adults. If adults have bad manners, it's their own look-out, to either teach themselves better ones or have other people consider them boors. It's perfectly acceptable for children to think adults are boors, and they're often well justified in their opinion, but it is Very Not Done for them to pipe up about it.

Riddles

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

One of my daughter's all-time favorite childhood books is Catkin (http://www.amazon.com/Catkin-Antonia-Barber/dp/0744577950/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1294406637&sr=1-1) by Antonia Barker, which is based around the Riddle Game.

LOL, I think the search phrase you're looking for is riddle me ree (http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=en&site=&source=hp&q=riddle+me+ree&aq=f&aqi=g2g-m1g-v7&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&psj=1&fp=2a604fccaf7f7afe). Enjoy!

[conuly]

However, I regret to say that Evangeline did indeed win the Bad Manners Prize for 'correcting' your table manners.

In general, yes. In this specific instance it was a much needed tension-breaker. You actually had to have been there if you're in doubt.