You’re Not Listening (part 2)

I posted last week about the overuse of the word “listen” to mean “obey” in adult/child relationships — i.e., “you’re not listening to me” when what the adult really means is “you’re not complying with what I told you”, not, “your ears are not processing the language I’m saying.” A lot of people in the … Read more

You’re Not Listening (part 1)

Once you start paying attention to how often adults say “listen” to euphemistically mean “obey”, it’s hard to get it out of your head. I think many of the adults I know are trying very hard to be gentle and respectful with kids, and they would feel wildly uncomfortable saying the exact same sentences if … Read more