No One Has Any Common Sense Anymore!
It was one of those peaceful mornings in the kitchen.
You know the type…dishes piled up in the sink, dishwasher didn’t run overnight, four children getting ready for the day, and my first zoom call starts in 15 minutes.
Regular peaceful morning for a family of six…
At least the dogs made it outside for the bathroom…
Now that the stage is set…
Daughter E (8yrs): Daddy, can I make hot chocolate?
Me: Sure, fine, whatever.
E: Yay!
Hot chocolate…easy peasy, right?
Heat up the milk, open the packet, mix, and drink.
I don’t mean to brag (which is the international phrase indicating bragging is indeed forthcoming)…but I could fix a cup of hot chocolate with one hand tied behind my back.
Not even kidding.
Eleanor began working through the steps.
Hot chocolate packet — check
Milk — check
Mug — check
After she finished heating up the milk in the coffee mug, she decided to transfer same milk to a large glass 4cup measuring pitcher, so that she could effectively stir the hot chocolate mix into the milk.
Trying to avoid the clumping that can happen when you just dump the mix into the milk with zero regard for the process…
And so she began to pour the milk from the Waffle House mug into the glass measuring pitcher.
Pouring it slowly so it wouldn’t spill.
I’ll just let that sink in…pouring out of a coffee mug SLOWLY…
Then physics took over. Cohesive and adhesive forces and all the technical terms activated…
Which is to say that the milk went straight down the side of the mug onto the counter.
I watched her pouring, waiting for her to pour it faster…so it wouldn’t flow down the side of the mug, but into the glass measuring pitcher.
But she didn’t pour faster. Actually, she tried to pour SLOWER because it was flowing down the mug.
And the inner dialogue in my brain went nuts…
You know that part of the brain that tries to run the show uninvited? It arrived ready to take charge and bark out orders.
NO! WRONG! POUR FASTER!!!! WHERE IS YOUR COMMON SENSE?
I used to wonder why my kids seemed to have zero common sense.
Until I learned that common sense was a lie.
Because all of the things I would see as “common sense” are really things that were taught to me.
Look both ways before crossing the street.
That red burner on the stove is too hot to touch and will burn you very badly.
How to answer the home phone — “Hello, Smith residence, this is Yeadon speaking. May I help you?” (I know I just dated myself with that one…)
My ‘common sense’ developed because at some point, someone taught it to me.
And no one had ever taught my daughter what happens when you pour liquid out of a cup slowly. Or how to pour it so it doesn’t spill.
So…when she realized the milk was spilling, she did what seemed right to her, even though it was the exact opposite of what would work.
While we wiped up the milk, we had a mini physics lesson on pouring. And now she has another piece of common sense.
Somewhere in the past year, it clicked for me that in those moments of “where is your common sense!?” I have the opportunity to pause and think about what piece of common sense is missing.
Because it’s not that my child (or anyone) doesn’t have common sense.
It’s just that they haven’t learned that piece of it yet…
In my own life, as I continue to learn and grow, my ‘common sense’ continues to expand with it.
In parenting, in marriage, in business, in real estate, that common sense gets better and better.
But only because now I know the steps to increase it.
What are you doing to increase your common sense?
No time like the present.
