Your Rascal in Corner

Dennis Menace was always being put in corner for doing something bad. Yet bad thing he did caused us to laugh because there was something so real and true about that person in corner.

Many of us have put rascal part of ourselves in corner, banished.

The one in corner is unpremeditated, impetuous, mischievous, impish, prankish, high-spirited, capricious, idle, playful, spontaneous, fun-loving, irrepressible, incorrigible. I could go on and on.

And this one laughs a lot and makes others laugh. So why is it kept in corner so often?

The Ubiquitous Appropriate Person -- Yawn!

Because our society has a different list of adjectives to apply to Appropriate Person: responsible, reliable, liable, dependable, capable, efficient, moderate . . . you get picture of this Appropriate Person. These adjectives certainly do not describe wrong way to be, unless they are ONLY adjectives that describe a person. Boring.

If we let him or her out, one in corner may do something inappropriate. He or she may speak a nugget of truth around which everyone else tiptoes. Or dress in colorful clothes unworried about matching one garment to another. Or sing at any time — off-key. Or skip through dining room. Or take a bite of someone else’s dessert. Who knows what might happen if rascal comes out of corner?

Guess Who Came to Dinner?

I would much rather have dinner with rascal in corner than with Appropriate Person. The meal likely would be much less boring and probably filled with much more laughter. With whom would you rather have dinner? Honestly, now. The rascal or Appropriate Person?

And of hundred times she asks per day (I made it a nice round number, but I suspect it's probably higher than that) she gets ice cream maybe once every two or three days. Sometimes she wears me down once a day for a few days. Now, before you start thinking this is an article on parenting techniques (as in, what NOT to do ), I'm actually using this headstrong toddler as an example. An example of what TO do. Yes, an example for even you to follow.

Because what is her success rate? On a good day, it is one percent. ONE PERCENT. She FAILS 99 percent of time. She tries a variety of approaches, and finds that 99 times out of 100, they do not work. And yet, she gets a bit of what she wants just about every day.

Why? Let's examine. First, she makes it very clear what she wants. She tells me color, flavor, in detail, in her request. She starts early in morning and doesn't let up until nighttime. She actually hits up her father more than she does me, knowing he's more of a softy, so she knows proper venue for her request.

Lesson to be learned: Be REALLY clear on what you want. It's hard to expect world to give you what you're looking for if you don't quite know what it is. Define color and flavor of what you want.