102 of 1000 – Talk, talk, talk.

Me, “Talk, talk, talk!” Tip 3

We talked so much, all day, every day. My ears were ringing, and begging for silence.

Although, it was difficult to sustain a constant level of engagement, I am forever thankful cell phones were not around in my parenting days. I think we would have missed out on a great deal.

I would have loved the options provided by technology, and no question, Michael would have had the technology. I am confident I would have had a string of justifications, and rationales, as to why an ipad, iphone,isomething, or ianything, would have been better than I. Instead, we were forced (or chose), to talk, and talk, and talk some more.

In the car we talked, at the table we talked, at the mall we talked, and on walks we talked. We talked in the morning, after school, at bath time and at bedtime. In between talking, we read.

We talked about how we expected things to go, how they went, and what we would change. We talked about disappointment, about happiness, and about life.

We talked about surroundings, the future, and the world.

We talked about problems, solutions, goals, dreams, and values. We discussed scenarios like bullying, peer pressure, listening, and making friends, before Michael went to elementary school.

By junior high, we talked more about bullying, and peer pressure, adding topics such as drugs, integrity, honesty, sex, and consent. We talked about the importance of choosing a rewarding career, upholding high standards, and participating full in life.

We talked about television, celebrities, and how we should, want, to conduct ourselves in the world.We talked every minute, about everything. When we were awake, we were talking.

By high school, we were comfortable talking about uncomfortable topics. We added depth to conversations on responsible driving, drugs, relationships, and academic achievements. We adding layers such as employment, work ethic, volunteering, community, health, partnership, networks, and reputation.

So much to cover!

I fondly remember, Michael was about seven, each night we would walk to the corner store. Of course, we talked the entire way.

Michael was given only $0.50 for candy, maybe getting him 10, maaaaaybe 20 pieces. One evening he said, “Mom why do we only spend 50 cents at the store.” (This wasn’t a lot of money, not even to a little boy.)

I started to drone on and on with some explanation, not really sure how to answer. Of course, the trip to the store was all about the walk and the talk. I wanted to tell him it was about the walk, and the talk, but feared I would lose him, believing for him it was all about the candy.

Before I could articulate why we only spent $0.50 on candy, Michael answered his own question. He said, “I know! You don’t want it to be about the candy, you want it to be about the walk, right Mom?”

I was never quite as smooth, or subtle, as I like to think.