Reading to Little Sister

John has taken to "reading" his books to Mary. Here he is reading from Richard Scarry's "Busiest Fire Fighters Ever." John repeatedly mentions his favorite character, Mr. Frumble.

I include this second video just so you can hear John tell Mary, "No, thank you!" when she grabs the book. When John was a baby, I read that one technique is to tell babies and toddlers, "No, thank you!" instead of "No!" all the time because it models politeness and sometimes the child will pick it up as a habit. Then when the child is being defiant or having a tantrum, he'll say "No, thank you!" which is a lot more pleasant to hear than "No!" I did that only casually and, much to my surprise, John has become a consistent user of "No, thank you," including saying it when he doesn't realize that "no" isn't an option. ("Okay, honey, it's nap time now." "No, thank you, Mama.") John even uses a little wave of his hand when he says, "No, thank you," much as one might wave away a hostess offering another cup of tea . . . "Oh, I couldn't possibly, no, thank you."

Anyway, I caught John telling Mary, "No, thank you!" and it was a very good reminder that how I treat him is his model for how he treats her. Now that's a heavy thought for the day!