The Importance of Communication

I am reminded of how important my mother’s comfort level is when trying to organize an outing with her. She truly needs to be told what to do, down to the last detail. I am not of that mind, and it is hard for me not to feel uncomfortable when giving her direct orders.

The point I am trying to make, stems from tonight. We are getting ready to go to the doctor’s office for that remaining stitch to be removed. Mom wanted to know what time we were going to leave. I told her that we needed to be there at 9 am. Later she asked me what time we were going to leave. I again said we had to be down there by 9 am. After this happened three or four times, I realized that she actually needed a specific time that I expected her to be in the car. To the minute thankyouverymuch. Once I figured that out: “Please be ready to leave at 8:25 am, so we can be at the doctor’s office by 9 am”, mom visibly relaxed.

The problem isn’t mom’s, it is mine. My nature is to give someone the list of things that need to happen; like be somewhere by a certain time. Then when all is said and done, things are finished. Although that sounds lame, it has worked for 14 years of parenting. I need to retrain myself to be much more specific and detailed.

Mom once again, is teaching me to be a better organizer. We never stop learning from our parents – even if they don’t know that they are teaching us .