Posts Tagged "questions"

Say What? Communication Challenges

Dear Kid,

For lunch the other day, Pi and I stopped at North Market in Columbus.

After we split a macaron as an appetizer (yes, dessert as an appetizer—it was delicious; don’t judge), we wandered around looking for lunch-type food.

Pi chose a combination duck and turkey stew with a broccoli barrier and a chicken-yumminess that was reminiscent of pot-pie filling. Happy child.

I found a Greek place and asked for a delicious looking rice and lentil thing.

Server: You want just the rice?
Me: And the onions and lentils.
Server: But just the rice?
Me (confused): With the onions and lentils.
Server: But no meat?
Me (finally understanding): Ah. No, no meat. Just the rice.

The question she asked (Just the rice?) made perfect sense to her because she was used to people ordering that particular kind of rice with one of their meat selections on top. It made no sense to me because I hadn’t even considered putting a meat selection on top. When she “clarified” by asking the exact same question, I still had no clue what was going on. But when she changed the question, all of a sudden the world shifted into focus and we were communicating.

(If you prefer an alternative explanation, you could say that I should have asked a clarifying question like “What are my choices?” rather than just “huh?”. But I think I’ll stick with it being all her fault.)

It was a delicious lunch (we ate outside since it seemed to be spring in Columbus), followed by an explore. But that’s another story.

Love, Mom

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Getting the Question Right (It’s Not Always Easy)

Dear Kid,

For lunch the other day, Pi and I stopped at North Market in Columbus.

After we split a macaron as an appetizer (yes, dessert as an appetizer—it was delicious; don’t judge), we wandered around looking for lunch-type food.

Pi chose a combination duck and turkey stew with a broccoli barrier and a chicken-yumminess that was reminiscent of pot-pie filling. Happy child.

I found a Greek place and asked for a delicious looking rice and lentil thing.

I found a Greek place and asked for a delicious looking rice and lentil thing. DearKidLoveMom.com

Server: You want just the rice?
Me: And the onions and lentils.
Server: But just the rice?
Me (confused): With the onions and lentils.
Server: But no meat?
Me (finally understanding): Ah. No, no meat. Just the rice.

I found a Greek place and asked for a delicious looking rice and lentil thing. DearKidLoveMom.com

The question she asked (Just the rice?) made perfect sense to her because she was used to people ordering that particular kind of rice with one of their meat selections on top. It made no sense to me because I hadn’t even considered putting a meat selection on top. When she “clarified” by asking the exact same question, I still had no clue what was going on. But when she changed the question, all of a sudden the world shifted into focus and we were communicating.

When she “clarified” by asking the exact same question, I still had no clue what was going on. But when she changed the question, all of a sudden the world shifted into focus and we were communicating. DearKidLoveMom.com(If you prefer an alternative explanation, you could say that I should have asked a clarifying question like “What are my choices?” rather than just “huh?”. But I think I’ll stick with it being all her fault.)

It was a delicious lunch (we ate outside since it seemed to be spring in Columbus), followed by an explore. But that’s another story.

Love, Mom

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It’s Take Your Pants for a Walk Day (Yes, Really — Here’s What You Need to Know)

Dear Kid,

Take Your Pants for a Walk Day. DearKidLoveMom.comToday is – wait for it – Take Your Pants for a Walk Day.

Yep, there is a Day for taking your Pants for a Walk, and it’s July 27th.

This is (of course) ridiculous.

Because it is about a thousand degrees outside today. So people who are going for walks are (mostly) wearing shorts.

Also, this could be seen as discrimination against skirts.

But the point is, how does one actually take pants for a walk? When we take the Puppy for a walk there is a leash involved. Do you have to put a leash (or at least a belt) on your pants? Or can you assume they’ll just go with you?

Do you have to be wearing the pants? Are you supposed to take ALL of your pants at once? Or do you take them sequentially? Or is taking one pair of pants symbolically sufficient?

There are a lot of unanswered questions here.

The e-card business is all kinds of excited about celebrating Take Your Pants for a Walk Day. But I’m not sure who you’re supposed to send the cards to exactly. Maybe I have stupid pants, because none of them know how to read. And they’d have to borrow my computer to read an e-card, so that seems a little silly.

Bottom line: Take yourself for a walk, because why not? If you want to take your pants with you, have a good time. If you want to leave your pants at home, that’s fine as long as you find another way to cover all the important bits.

Happy Take Your Pants for a Walk Day.

Love, Mom

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7 Bizarre Questions I Don’t Know How To Answer

Dear Kid,

You’re safely back at school (thank you for letting us know you arrived before the weather started) and I miss you already. So does the Puppy. By the way, he’s not completely better, but he spun around at dinner time, so I take that as a very good sign of healing.

I’ve been thinking about a lot of things today.

Like:

Why is it that most girl athletes with long hair wear their hair in a ponytail when they’re playing but most men (and by “most men” I mean NFL players) just wear their long hair down during games?

Why is it no one will pay me to play solitaire all day on my computer?

Who decided it was a good idea to keep running the really creepy Old Spice commercials?

Why do adults have to work on school snow days?

What impact do we think drones will have on professional football?

Why does time go so quickly from 4pm Sunday to 11pm Sunday?

What would it take to train the dog to bring me another serving of potatoes?

As you can see, it’s been a very busy day.

If you find the answers to these—or any other important questions—don’t hesitate to fill me in.

Love, Mom

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September 28th is Ask a Stupid Question Day. Really.

Dear Kid,

Yes, it is finally here.

September 28th is Ask a Stupid Question Day.

Because no matter how often people say “there is no such thing as a stupid question” we all know that’s not true. There are plenty of stupid questions and people ask them all the time.

Usually we celebrate stupid questions by rolling our eyes, repeating the answer v-e-r-y slowly, and moving away from the asker (Note: Stupid Questions are not contagious, but they are annoying).

Today, however, we celebrate the Stupid Question. You get to say things like “Congratulations! That was a really stupid question! Way to go, dude!”

This usually leaves the asker even more confused since they aren’t aware that it’s Stupid Question Day—which in turn leads to celebrating more stupid questions. Like “huh?”

Once you get into the swing of things, you might be surprised to discover just how much fun Stupid Question Day can be.

(Note: Keep in mind it’s not Stupid Answer Day. The goal is not to come up with increasingly stupid statements.)

When was Ask a Stupid Question Day created? In the 1980s

Who created Ask a Stupid Question Day? Teachers. I kid you not.

Why? To try to get more kids to ask questions.

Has it worked? (That may be too stupid even for today.)

Happy Ask a Stupid Question Day!

Love, Mom

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