The Darndest Things: Meddlesome

I think that it is typical of oldest children to get involved in things they ought not to be involved in. If they see their sisters fighting, for instance, they immediately Make It Their Business. I find that my number one obstacle to Masterly Inactivity is my oldest child, who can be overly helpful and…meddlesome.

I am convinced that when he is a father he will see it my way.

Of course, if he decides to move forward with becoming a monk, he’ll forever think I’m a freak.

That is what I call taking one for the team.

Ahem.

So the oldest child was meddling a while back, which resulted in the creation of problems which were not problems until he arrived on the scene. He was not in direct rebellion to me, but he did need correcting. My approach with this has been to have him write sentences. It seems to be effective as a tutor for him.

So I wrote “I will not meddle” at the top of a page and told him he had to write it eight times. Here is what I got back from him:

I will not meddle.
I will not meddle.
I will not meddle.
I will not meddle.
I will not meddle.
I will not meddle.
I will not meddle.
I will not meddle.

MAYBE YOU SHOULD TEACH A PERSON WHAT MEDDLE MEANS!!!