The Computer Translator

My girls have had a hard time obeying and while they have been getting better Lena pushed me over the edge tonight with her emphatic and rude "NO." I have tried to be really patient and encouraging but tonight I had, had enough of the NO business and decided that some consequences were in order. So I told Lena I wanted to talk. We sat down at the computer translator and I explained to her how it made me feel when she disobeyed. I told her in a family it is rude to say NO to your mom and that it made me feel sad. I then asked her why she was being mean and telling me NO so rudely. I asked if it was because she was mad?

She started to sob and sob and I wondered what in the world I had said. She pointed at the word mad in Russian on the computer and said, "me no mad" I said o.k. but was still confused by the onslaught of tears. She then sobbed out that she was not crazy and made the universal sign for crazy. I then realized that she was crying because she thought I said she was not being nice because she was mad crazy.

The poor thing, I felt so bad and tried to take it back and in the end she understood that it was the very stupid computer and not what I meant. How sad though it broke my heart, she was devastated that I thought she was crazy. That is the first time I have used the computer translator and what a mess it turned out to be.

We did settle on the consequence for disobedience as no bike for the day. Oh boy, that was a rough one.

Later I asked her to do something, she said no and then quickly gasped and covered her mouth. It was so funny I couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Sara either compensating for Lena or wanting to avoid Lena's pain was quick with a yes mama the rest of the night. It is funny how I can feel so exasperated with them one minute and then love them more than ever the next.