One morning, the older brother was supposed to be eating the oatmeal he'd requested (which his mother had so lovingly prepared). Instead, he and his younger brother were standing on the couch, looking out the windows, and watching garbage trucks drive by on the street. (This happened to occur on the day of the weekly festival known colloquially as Garbage Truck Day.)
Suddenly, the mother heard a blood-curdling, shiver-inducing shriek, the cry of a maddened wolf spotting his prey. Half a moment later, she heard a rising crescendo, the answering scream of an innocent young creature in distress.
The mother sprang into action. Surely, some rabid animal has attacked!
Indeed, the younger brother had committed the most egregious of crimes: The putting on of the older brother's red Lightning McQueen slippers. The older brother had reacted with wild animal instincts, snatching the slippers off the offender's tiny feet, screaming maniacally, and flinging the slippers onto the floor across the room, where no one could reach them. The younger brother had cried out at the older brother's rapid ferocity and injustice.
And there, the mother found them: Two brothers, with no slippers, panting.
The mother intuitively recognized the opportunity for an A+ Parenting Moment. She knelt down on the floor, and gazed into the older brother's brown eyes - nay, his very soul.
"If you scream at your brother, then when he learns to talk, that is the way he will talk to you."
The older brother was silent, surely processing the deep wisdom that was piercing his heart.
"So you need to talk to your brother the way you want him to talk to you."
The mother watched as these life-changing words made their way into the essence of his being.
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And the mother knew: Her darling, gentle son would never, ever raise his voice to his younger brother again.
And that's A+ Parenting Today.
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