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Have you ever watched a Charlie Brown cartoon?  I recently experienced what I will call my “Charlie Brown” moment.  If you ever watched the cartoon, you will remember that there were never any parents.  If a parent was in a clip, they were merely a voice, an inaudible voice; all you ever heard was “Blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah”.  I’m serious.  And then Charlie Brown and gang would interpret what the parent said.  (Now, my question today is, did the parent really say that, or was that what Charlie Brown chose to hear?)  But I’m getting off track….so Saturday night my son Levi, who is home for the summer came home after work.  He works most nights until midnight.  He found me working on my COMM 4381 paper that was due on Monday and I was engrossed in writing and had my iPod with the earplugs on.  So he comes in with a plate of pizza (I do remember the pizza!) and all I see are his lips moving.  So I unplug to hear him, and I have to say that today I can’t remember what he said!  All I remember is “blah, blah blah, blah blah”.  How awful is that?  So now I have the following question: Do you supposed that’s how kids really hear their parent’s speaking?  All these years when I asked my son to clean up his room, or to run an errand or perhaps a gentle reminder of something important to do, all he saw were my lips moving and all he heard or remembered hearing was “blah, blah, blah”.    Ha! Talk about role reversal!  My son is also a college student, but he chose not to take any summer classes.  So instead he comes home after working all evening and tries to have a conversation with his mother, and I’ve got the iPod on and didn’t even hear a word he said.  That was my Charlie Brown moment.  

The moral of my story is; unplug, take a step back and listen.  We get so wrapped up in our own little world and have so many distractions that we forget about the important people in our lives; our parents and yes even our children.  Don’t turn them into “blah blah blah”.

Oh wait, I hear something; “Blah, blah, blah, blah”…what’s that?  Oh, it’s my boss talking to me. I think I better get back to work now!   (Just kidding Señor Lows).