Because my counterpart’s children are both very intelligent and very young, I’ve taken to declaring household laws to enforce certain behaviors. Some household laws include:
- Two sandals must be worn in the bathroom at all times, one on each foot.
- There is no talking to a person when s/he is working on the computer, reading a book or praying.
- Only one person in the room is allowed to be mad at any given time.
The third law was declared this afternoon over lunch. I woke up in a rather sour mood as my patience for family life is wearing thing, and I’ve also got a cold. I don’t hide my moods very well, and I thought it had been established that I would be the cranky cow of the household today.
Lunchtime rolled around, however, and the four-year-old threw a temper tantrum.
“Yassine, you can’t be mad right now, ” I told him. ”There’s a rule that only one person can be mad in the room, and I’m that person right now. You can still be mad, but you’ll have to leave the room and be mad somewhere else. I’m sorry, but that’s the rule.”
His parents got behind the idea, and backed up the new law. His mom tried to get Yassine to crack a smile by tickling him, but this only added fuel to the fire. He lifted his head out from the pillow he had buried it under, saw me smiling at him, and declared that I should be the one to leave the room, because he was clearly angrier than I was.
How can I argue with that?
Hahaha interesting laws though. I think you might find some better ideas on the community: http://lifespace.com/Household, to solve your problems. Thanks!