Feedback

Saturday was rough on Bryson. He seemed to make bad call after bad call. I got after him for not policing his friends as they trashed toys and walls. Nicole got after him for not listening. We both got after him for one thing after another. In short, he was starting to feel like a gnawed-on bone.

That evening during dinner at a Mexican restaurant, Bryson capped it all off by being rude and disrespectful to a friend of ours. While driving home Nicole took the opportunity to give him a little firm coaching. He was slumped in his chair and clearly looked like he was being unfairly judged and verbally abused. Meanwhile, our daughter Bailey was beaming like she always does when Bryson gets in trouble since she's usually the one on the receiving end of a lecture. 99% of all disciplinary action in our family is taken against Bailey, who is too spunky to stay out of trouble most days.

While for Nicole as she ran a quick errand in a store, I became frustrated that Bryson wasn't really absorbing Nicole's message. I told him he needed to stop feeling like a victim and that he needed to get used to listening to feedback. I told him that we all get feedback from bosses, from spouses, and from teachers. It's part of life and we need to figure out how to learn from it.

In a quivering voice, he said, "But I'm not used to getting that kind of feedback from Mom!"

"Well, I am." said Bailey in a very serious voice. I can't remember the last time I laughed that hard. I guess you gotta know Bailey, but it was classic Bae Mae.