Gommy was thinking today about the art of listening. I have noticed many people don't always listen as well as they talk. My Dad used to say that God gave us two ears and one mouth....DUH...that should be a hint that we should listen more than we talk. Just today, I was relaying a thought to someone and before I had the chance to finish, they were already talking about what they wanted to say. It is like their story was more important than my story. Maybe it is, but politeness mandates that we don't or shouldn't interrupt someone until they are finished talking.
We should start when our children are young and teach them not to interrupt. I notice quite often, that the kids of today aren't schooled in basic manners. No matter how often a mom or dad ignore the kid when they interrupt, they continue to do so. Maybe that is the problem. Everyone is talking over everyone else and it may just be that the parent should stop talking themselves and immediately correct the child on the spot. There doesn't seem to be any boundaries being set for the children of today. An incident happened at my work a while ago that proves to Gommy that children are being brought up today to not expect any consequences for their behavior. Example: a little boy came in to the store where I was working with his mom, dad and sister. The little boy was around 3 and the sister was probably 4. The little boy asked for a chocolate-covered pretzel and the mom asked pointedly, "Are you sure this is what you want?" She apparently has gone down that road way too many times before. The little boy said he was sure. Then the sister got a daisy-shaped lollipop and that is when the stuff started flying. The little boy said he didn't want his half-eaten pretzel any longer and wanted a daisy lollipop like his sister had instead. The Mom tried (in her defense) to explain to her son that he had made his choice and that is when he started wailing.....The dad said, "What's the matter buddy?" and when the little boy said he wanted the lollipop instead, the father said for the mom to get it for him. Now, you can call Gommy old fashioned, but I would have handled it differently. Gommy would have gently explained to 'Little Tommy" that he had made his choice and although I understand that he may not be happy about it right now, the next time he would probably take his time before making a decision. And that taking his time would help him make sure he would be more happy about his decision. No consequences, no sweat! Right? What did the little boy learn from his experience? He learned that it doesn't matter if he makes a wrong decision because he can just get something else anyway. We must learn at an early age that 'money doesn't grow on trees" as my mom used to say.
Now back to listening. Sometimes we anticipate what someone is going to say and jump in and can be completely wrong about what the person was going to say. Gommy has been guilty of that herself in the past and I am glad that someone brought it to my attention. I try to be more careful to make sure the person has finished their train of thought now before I answer. It is just a part of using our manners. Manners and politeness have sadly gone out of 'style'. Maybe they will return someday. Gommy hopes she is still around to see it. I'll sure be 'listening' for it......
