I Wonder…

I came home from work tonight to find this…

Rerolled toilet paper (again). I hate this on many levels but my six year old son has a habit of sometimes “taking his time” in the washroom and this tends to be the focus of that time.

Finding this after a frustrating commute and a long day at work, what would your response have been? A) use an “I mean business” kind of voice and express your displeasure to your son as you point your hand at this toilet paper roll in chaos and say “you’re wasting paper” or B) ask why he did it? I chose A) and you can predict how that went down. My wife on the other hand took a few minutes to ask him “why”.

He responded “I just wondered how long the toilet paper was and then I tried to roll it back up.”

I wonder…

He had me at “I wonder”. That is the best type of question. The curious nature in all of us is something fostered by my son’s teacher, our school and life in our house. So, with that we set out to discover the answer through some hands-on learning. Then created a little video of our experience together.

As a parent it’s hard to always be mindful, but tonight I’m glad to have been reminded  that when I remember to ask why, rather than react, the outcome is always so much more interesting.