Books I am Reading

I have a couple of books by Dr. Dobson that I am currently reading: Bringing Up Boys and Bringing Up Girls.

Yesterday, I was reading Bringing up Girls and stumbled upon a few key pieces of information in chapter 4. Two specific sentences struck me: 1.)'Though estimates vary, it appears that males use about seven thousand words per day; and females, twenty thousand.' (p.33) 2.) 'There will come a time when they will be talking primarily to their peers, and the missed opportunities for understanding and intimacy today will be costly down the road.' (p.34)

Needless to say, I promptly book marked my spot and invited Grace to make dinner with me. I was met with a 'Mom, can I show you plans for my room first?' Wow, my lesson in action could not have been more appropriate. You see, Grace has been talking endlessly about this bedroom redo. She is soon to be 13 and is insistent on a more "mature" room. And, to my discredit, I tune some of it out since the plans are forever changing. But, in this moment I surprised myself and answered a quick, 'Sure!' This answer was not as easy at it sounds because I was on a time constraint and inviting her to MAKE dinner was already a huge deal for me. (I am a bit of a control freak in the kitchen)

So, off to her room we went and measured dimensions and talked and talked and talked and planned and mentally moved every piece of furniture. And, I patiently sat through a virtual room makeover online. Then, the sweetest thing happened. She asked my opinion. This may seem obvious to some but, in this family, Grace is the more stylish and creative one. All in all, it really only took 15 minutes of my time and we still prepared dinner together. It's a small victory but, I pray that I would continue to slow down and listen to all the chatter and random talk.