Back Talk

As far as I can remember, the thing that I got in trouble for most as a child was back talk. Or, as my mother would call it, "Answering back".

These days, I am hearing the words "Stop answering back" come out of my mouth more than I would like. To add more answering back to the answering back, Aaron asks "What do you mean by 'answering back'? I'm just answering you!"

Thats actually a tough question to answer. When you think about it, 'answering back' is what people do when somebody else speaks to them? No wonder he was confused when I told him not to. After a bit of Googling, it looks like the correct term is actually 'Backtalk'. (Thank goodness I didn't know this as a child or I might have been tempted to answer back my mother with "Its not answering back, its backtalk." I can just imagine the split ends of the rattan cane that she used. SCARY!)

So back to Aaron's backtalk. So far, its not usually rude. The most common responses I hear from him are 'Why?' and 'Why not?'.

Of course, out of irritation and exasperation, I do tell him to be quiet and not be rude but I know I'm not always fair. I don't like playing the "because-I-said-so" card but I have when I just had to get going or get something done. Supposedly one of the ways is to give them an opportunity to explain themselves first, and then, the parent explains the situation and what needs to be done. That would take ages!

I guess this is just another aspect of motherhood that I'm going to have to deal with. These boys won't stay sweet and innocent forever. I'd better come up with a better strategy that the "because-I-said-so" one. Maybe modify that you-explain-I-explain strategy into a bullet point format.