Outfox The Kids For Fun And Profit
The Blame Game
You look a lot smarter to young eyes, when you own up to your own dumbness.
I recently heard about a youngster who was a little too rambunctious in a grocery store. To keep him occupied while she was shopping, the mother had allowed him to drive his little pedal car up and down the aisles of the store. It was not a good idea. She did not consider the fact that someone so young would not have the same skills she did in maneuvering a vehicle.
Rounding a corner at the end of an aisle, he knocked over a large freestanding display.
A clerk quickly arrived on the scene and calmly commented, "My goodness, it looks like I have a problem."
The little tyke was beside himself. His lower lip was trembling and tears were welling in his eyes.
"Will you help me with my problem?" asked the clerk.
The little one set to work at once helping to restack the display, more than willing to help correct the trouble he had caused.
When the mother heard the crash, she came running from the other end of the store. Embarrassed about what the child's misjudgment said about her, angry at herself for allowing the child out of her sight, and probably aware of her own misjudgment in allowing the little car into the store, she was ready to unload all of her own self anger at others.
If her son had not been so careless, there would have been no problem. If the store had not put the display there, the accident would not have happened. Her emotional involvement made it impossible for her to see her own part in creating the problem.
Mom needed to become aware, just as we all do, that any problem has many causes. It is quite likely that we may be a part of the cause. It is so normal to blame others first. Once we separate the causes and claim our part, then it is easier to figure out solutions, and not so easy to heap our own feelings of guilt, blame, and frustration on unsuspecting little shoulders.
Nobody spots a phony quicker than a child.