As we were getting ready to leave, my wife, standing across the driveway, called out to our son, “Did you take pocket money for recess today?”
From the back seat of the car, he replied, “Yes.”
A moment later, she repeated, “Did you take pocket money for recess today?”
He answered again, this time a bit louder, “Yes!”
Not long after, she asked the same question a third time: “Did you take pocket money for recess today?”
Frustrated now, he shouted, “YES!!”
I glanced at him and asked calmly, “Do you know what’s wrong with this scenario?”
A classic example of miscommunication and persistence meeting frustration!
The likely "wrong" thing here could be the
repetitive questioning, despite his consistent responses.
From his perspective, he might feel unheard or disbelieved,
which escalates his tone.
Meanwhile, my wife’s repeated questioning might come from a
place of concern or simply not catching his initial response due to
distractions.
In truth, neither he nor my wife had been looking at each
other, and with the car window wound up, she probably couldn’t hear his
responses clearly in the first place!
The lack of visual cues and the physical barrier of the
closed car window had caused the miscommunication.
It was a simple yet common mistake, a gentle reminder of how
much we rely on more than just words to understand each other.
