So there I was, contemplating good excuses for not having updated the Big Ugly Man Doll in way too long, when I was called away to Duty.\u00a0And by Duty, I mean putting the kids to bed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Originally, SOBUMD and I decided, by which I mean she told me, that I should be the one to put them to bed since I didn\u2019t see them most of the day, and this way I could have some bonding time with my lovely children, doting on them in much the same way that you\u2019ll sometimes see a fat guy doting on a really good meal before he tucks into it or, in my case, tucks them into bed for the night.\u00a0Now that they\u2019re all older and mostly reading on their own, this doting generally involves ensuring the doffing of clothes, brushing of teeth, donning of PJs, hushing of cats, closing of closets, and finding of books, and ends with professions of love and admonitions not to read for too long and to sleep \u201ctight,\u201d whatever that means.\u00a0(Luckily, they\u2019ve never asked.)\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tonight it included, as it so often does, researching the immortal question, \u201cWhy are you crying?\u201d\u00a0For the Reigning Queen of Pink was inconsolable to the point of being irritating, which while not exactly a huge feat still merits discussion.\u00a0I finally got her to stop fussing long enough to whisper the trouble in my ear, \u201cThe Pink Bear.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now I need to interject, because the remainder of the story requires knowledge of the evening, which involved Chinese food while watching GodSpell on DVD.\u00a0All the kids have seen it several times, and they all wanted to see it again.\u00a0They all sat through it and sang along \u2013 despite not finishing their lo mein.<\/p>\n
Back to, where was I?\u00a0Oh, of course, the Pink Bear.\u00a0\u201cWhat pink bear, hon?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 [Here let it be known that the accused stood and pointed across the room at her sister.]\u00a0Ah, I should have known.\u00a0The rest of the conversation went as follows:<\/p>\n
BUMD:<\/strong>\u00a0 Number One Daughter, what pink bear is she talking about? And with that I left the room, after having laid a pretty heavy trip on a 10-yr-old who goes to church and CCD.\u00a0I then, of course, waited outside the door to listen to what would unfold.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I always have high expectations of number one daughter, but this was a tough test.\u00a0Here you are, sharing a room with your 6-yr-old sister, and she\u2019s crying because she wants her toy back.\u00a0She gave it to you fair and square.\u00a0Your (doting) father is giving you the WWJD business after you\u2019ve just watched Victor Garber showing you Just WJWHD, and asking you existential questions about what it means to \u201cown\u201d something while you\u2019re in the middle of reading about the American Indians (in school) and how they felt that no one \u201cowned\u201d the land.\u00a0So I was very curious to see how this would play out.<\/p>\n Flying colors.\u00a0I heard her get up, walk over to her sister, and present her with options ranging from #1 daughter buying her a similar toy with her own money, buying her a similar toy with RQP\u2019s money, forgetting about the whole thing, and a few others.\u00a0Not one of these involved giving her the toy back.\u00a0<\/p>\n She\u2019s practical, and problem oriented.\u00a0The way I see this, she knew that the problem was not \u201cI have her toy\u201d but rather \u201cshe\u2019s crying.\u201d\u00a0Number One Daughter stuck to her guns, knowing that I hadn\u2019t *ordered* her to give the toy back.\u00a0(She would have, if I\u2019d asked her to.)\u00a0I told her to do the right thing, which she took as \u201cMake the RQP happy so she stops crying.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 That the solutions didn\u2019t make a lot of sense isn\u2019t as important to me as the approach.\u00a0<\/p>\n Actions have consequences, and you can\u2019t always hit undo.\u00a0This is an important lesson when you\u2019re 6, when you\u2019re 10, and when you\u2019re John McCain.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n I think she nailed it.\u00a0 Thoughts?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" So there I was, contemplating good excuses for not having updated the Big Ugly Man Doll in way too long, when I was called away to Duty.\u00a0And by Duty, I mean putting the kids to bed.\u00a0 Originally, SOBUMD and I decided, by which I mean she told me, that I should be the one to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3,33,10],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=223"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":467,"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223\/revisions\/467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nNumber One Daughter:<\/strong>\u00a0 She gave it to me, and I told her she was going to cry later, but she said I could keep it.<\/span>
\nBUMD:<\/strong>\u00a0 RQP, did you give it to Number One Daughter?
\nRQP:<\/strong>\u00a0 Yes but now I want it back.
\n<\/span>BUMD:<\/strong>\u00a0 Ah ha.\u00a0OK, you really did give it to her, right?
\nRQP:<\/strong>\u00a0 Yes I gave it to her but now I want it back now.\u00a0<\/span>[Those who rule by divine right don\u2019t need to use a lot of commas.]
\n#1 Daughter:<\/strong>\u00a0 She gave it to me.
\n<\/span>BUMD, to RQP:<\/strong>\u00a0 OK, why don\u2019t you just lay down and I\u2019ll tuck you in, and we\u2019ll see what happens, OK?
\nRQP [suddenly cheerful]:<\/strong>\u00a0 OK, goodnight Daddy!<\/span>
\n[I walk over to #1 Daughter\u2019s bed and lower my voice.]
\nBUMD<\/strong>:\u00a0Where is this bear now?
\n#1 Daughter:<\/strong>\u00a0It\u2019s this jelly-bear thingy [here she points at 4 of them that she\u2019s connected into a necklace\/thingy].\u00a0She gave it to me, and I told her she was going to cry later, but she said I could keep it.
\n<\/span>BUMD:<\/strong>\u00a0Number One Daughter, if you knew that she was going to want it back, did she really ever give it to you?
\n#1 Daughter:<\/strong>\u00a0[silence]
\n<\/span>BUMD:<\/strong>\u00a0Number One Daughter, you just watched GodSpell.\u00a0What would Jesus tell you to do?
\n#1 Daughter:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 [deafening silence]
\n<\/span><\/span>BUMD:<\/strong>\u00a0Number One Daughter, you must have known she\u2019d want it back, because you told her she\u2019d cry later.\u00a0If you knew she was going to ask for it back, was it ever really yours?
\n#1 Daughter:<\/strong>\u00a0She gave it to me.
\n<\/span>BUMD:<\/strong>\u00a0OK, you just watched the show, GodSpell.\u00a0I think you know what Jesus would tell you to do in this situation.\u00a0You\u2019re a smart girl.\u00a0Do the right thing.\u00a0Good night!<\/p>\n