FoxTrot Classics by Bill Amend for January 14, 2013

Good question. Although she wasn’t really asking — she was telling.

It’s called a “learning experience,” Peter. When Mom asks you politely to do the right thing, you say yes. Otherwise, the door and the wacky world of paying for your own housing and food await you.

I learned what “helping me” meant at a much earlier age than this.

from the looks of it, she was already out there doing it. She’s got bits on snow on her and she is wearing a scarf and ear muffs. With a response like that from Peter it was definitely time for him to finish what she started.

As an English major, Andy should know that “helping me shovel the driveway” and “helping me by shoveling the driveway” are not the same thing. She said the first but seems to expect the second.

Or maybe she shoveled some, realized that Peter was on his duff, and should help her by finishing what she started. She left because otherwise he’d go rrreeeaaallllyyyyy slow and let her do the bulk of the work!

I’d say she knows her kids.

Maybe they’ve got two shovels.

Appearances must be maintained

@zoidknightMust be a teen with an atitude problem or a young adult still living at home who expects to be waited on. A family works together. When my kids were pre-teen, I was out there shoveling with them. When the oldest was in his teens, he started mowing the lawn and plowing the driveway alone AND WITHOUT BEING TOLD. It’s part of being a family. Peter and Paige are old enough to start doing things around the house without whining. When my son visits from college, he helps. As to can’t cook-not really. They don’t like her experiments.

My mom used to ask if I’d like to take out the garbage. She didn’t appreciate the sarcasm as I’d caper about yelling, “Oh boy! Can I? Are you really going to let me do that? Boy, that would make my day …”

Well, it least I took it out.

Peter has a point, tho…if you want somebody to do something, tell them rather than making them guess how sincere you might be.

What bothered me as a child is not that Mom said I had to “do it,” but that I had to “do it with a good attitude.” Yelling at me is not a good way to get me into a good attitude, Mom! Why can’t I just do it, and meanwhile, you ignore my facial expressions?

My mother always liked to go out and shovel the snow. It was her excuse for going out and playing in the snow as an adult. She was out shoveling one day when one of my high school teachers went by. He wanted to know why she was scooping the walks when both my brother and I were home. My Mom’s reply was: “They would not dare”. (As it we would even consider spoiling her fun)

There may have been some missed sarcasm.

Mexicans have all kind of misunderstandings like this when we travel to Spain. We say, can you give me away a little cup of coffee, we say it figuratively, we want to pay for it, off course, but the Spaniards interpret it literally and, off course, they refuse. So we say, can you bring me a little cup of coffee, Mexicans say affectionately always “little”, in Spanish, But the Spaniard waiter says, we only have average cups of coffee, not “little”, and this can go on and on.

It’s a courtesy. I would MUCH rather my mom ask me that way than come through with, “You need to ____” or " You should _____" or “You ought to ______”

my dads English so he always asks, would you like to do ….. whatever it is

but, it builds character. work ethic, muscles, and being slothful glutton is sinful.

You walked straight into that one.

You see, that is why you never “ask” your kids to do anything. It makes it a decision to do or not to do. Simply issue commands. Instead of saying, “Could you go upstairs and get me a clean shirt from my drawer?” You say, “Hey, go upstairs and get me a clean shirt from my drawer please”. See, polite, but a command. The only decision is to obey or disobey. The latter of which carries consequences.