Monday
AUGUST 25, 2014

Life on Life's Terms

Do as I say, not as I do

The next morning my daughter was up early, doing homework.

"Why didn't you do that last night?" I asked.

"I knew I could do it today," she said. "I'll finish it in homeroom."

"Didn't we have a talk just last week about procrastination?"

"I know.  But if you drive me to school, I can do it before homeroom."

"I'd like to, but I have to get to work to write today's message.  I try to send them out before nine o'clock."

She stared at me for a second, letting the hypocrisy sink in.

"Why didn't you write it last night, Dad?" she said, trying to sound like me.  Nothing but lame excuses popped into my mind.

"Grab your backpack," I said. "I'll drive you to school."

Today I'll be on guard for my own hypocrisy.

Life on Life's Terms (c) 2014 by Ken Montrose

Upcoming

Burnout: Clinical, Ethical, & Supervisory Issues
September 12, 2014 at Greenbriar-New Kensington
9:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m
$30 payable in advance, at the door, or by invoice after the training

This three hour training is accredited for:

• Addiction Counselors by the Pa. Certification Board
• CRCs  by the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification # 11938191652 and 11938191653 (one hour Ethics portion)
• Counselors by NAADAC #477 and NBCC #6352
• EAPs by the Employee Assistance Certification Commission
• Social Workers by the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work.

Other Blogs

AArdvarks, a daily messages blog about a group of young people in recovery can be found at: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/6876579-pickled.

Smart Bears, Angry Rats

High Standards

"Why does she have to clean her room?" my son asked as he peered in from the hallway.

"Look at it!" I said.

He looked around the room and shrugged.  "Just looks like somebody kicked the clean clothes onto the dirty clothes pile. Take the half-folded stuff that’s clean off the completely rumpled pile, and it's all good."

"That's your standard?" I asked.  "If the clean clothes are separated from the dirty clothes, then you consider the room clean?"

"Well, you'd have to be some kinda slob to wear clothes that were sitting on the dirty pile," he said looking to his sister.

"Brat Boy's right.  The standard is no mingling of the clean with the dirty. Neither one of us would ever violate that standard."

I thought about discussing the importance of having high standards, but decided not to waste my breath.  "Clean your rooms," I said.  "And before you ask why, the answer is because I said so."

"Somebody has some mighty low standards for explaining why we should do things," my son said.  He caught my expression and said to his sister, "But now would be a good time for us to clean our rooms, Blondie."

Today I will set a slightly higher standard for myself.

Smart Bears, Angry Rats (c) 2014 by Ken Montrose