An ugh and a yes!

One of the things that I really work hard to teach my kids is probably not something that every mother does. I'm not saying they should, just that for some reason this is a big deal to me, but I don't think that it is to others. That's part of what makes every mother unique. She gets to decide what things are important enough to her to make a big deal.

I really, really try hard to get my kids to answer verbally when spoken to verbally.

You will never catch me saying that one of my kids is shy. I just don't say that. Both of my kids are introverts and fuel up when they are alone, but I don't say that they are shy when they don't want to speak to others when they are spoken to.

It is not easy for a child to speak to someone they they don't know or don't see often. It isn't easy for them to speak to a big grown up every time one speaks to them.

Yesterday, one of my two didn't want to speak to an adult because the adult had offended her. The adult didn't know that she offended Allyssa. (She sat on her crayons and took her seat. OOPS!) However, the time had come for Allyssa to say hi to the lady, and I wasn't going to let her get by being rude (which she wanted to be because she was really miffed about her crayons, let me tell you). She forced out a quiet hi, then the lady turned to talk to someone else. That's when Allyssa started crying. It had taken all she had to force out that little "hi."

Someone noticed her crying and asked me about it. I said she was just fussy. That's true. She was. Kids can be really fussy when their crayons get sat on and their seats get taken.

A little while later I said hello to a little girl who was slightly older than Allyssa. The girl did not respond. I was holding Allyssa at this point, and she whispered to me, "Mommy, why didn't that girl talk to you when you said hi?"

Might not sound like a victory, but, to me, it was.

She might not always speak when spoken to like I tell her to do, but she hears that it is the right thing to do, and is learning.

Learning. The victory is in the learning.