Big Ears

Ane has a bad habit of assuming that every conversation she hears is about her.  Or that she should know what is being said.  Or she just point blank eavesdrops if she thinks the conversation will be interesting.

This is not working out well in many respects.  First of all, she’s 8 and a half.  She will hear part or all of a news report and flip out, because she lacks the ability (since she’s a child) to put the news in context.  This can be really bad, especially when the news is bad and filled with things we’d rather not explain to her (terrorist attacks, kidnappings, murders, etc).  She listens in on whatever half of a phone conversation she can hear and jumps to conclusions.  She also feels as if she should know any and every thing that the Webmaster and I might discuss when it comes to our family.

This includes her brother’s behavior at school.

Since Ane and Tad do not attend the same school (and never have), his behavior will not reflect on her, and yet she needs to know EVERY detail of his misbehavior.  For example, he is still having trouble at recess.  He came home with a recess teacher write-up slip in his backpack on Monday, and when I was telling the Webmaster about it, she just had to know what he’d done.  And she was quite put out when her father and I told her that it was none of her business.

“But I tell you what I do at school!!” she argued.

“But you don’t need to know what Tad does at school.  Or, if you knew, you should not tell us what Tad does at school.  That’s called ‘tattling.’ ” I pointed out.

She was still miffed.  And even more so when I was telling Grandma about it over the phone yesterday, and I could see her hiding in the hall, desperate to hear what I was saying about it.

“Walk away, Big Ears,” I ordered.

“I do not have big ears!” she yelled, stomping off.

“Little pitchers,” I said to Grandma.

“Yes, indeed,” she replied.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 18th, 2012 at 1:06 am and is filed under Children.
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