Where the ear goes the body will follow

It was very fortunate that my sister in law, Jennifer gave me this advice, "Where the ear goes the body will follow." I had been asking Jennifer advice on dealing with a teenage boy in case he tries to be defiant. Jennifer has two boys well into their teenage years.

It so happened I needed that advice, unfortunately.

I am here to pass along that gem of wisdom. It works very well when things are quickly escalating into a very bad situation.

No matter how defiant a person is.

No matter how much they tell you they hate you.

No matter how much they stare you in the eye and clench their fists.

Where the ear goes the body will follow.

If you do it quickly you will regain control over the situation. It must be done with a very firm but completely controlled hand.

Speed and composure are absolutely required in the situation. It will not do for the parent to also lose control of themselves and participate in the arguing. The secret is not to let it continue escalating into a worse situation.

In the end after our meeting with the "board of education" and a very clear talk about actions and consequences things went very well.

It seems that I passed the test. Sometimes children will test you. They want to know exactly how far they can go with a rebellious behavior. Fortunately for all of us the answer was not far at all.

And the boy who was crying, "I hate you" earlier in the day gave me several hugs and "I love you" by the end of the night.