Aunty Acid by Ged Backland for June 18, 2019

I used to do that to my stepson, I’d lean in, usually from behind, and say, “Been there, done that and I know ALL the tricks. Nice try” It was fun watching him practically jump out of his skin.

Hmm… that’s food for thought – and a blueprint for action!

I used to do that, especially if we were out in public. It is a very effective tool.

Sometimes silence is the most eloquent argument.

Simply having you as a mother is the scariest thing that could possibly happen to a child.

My kids told me all I had to do was give them “The Look”.

Especially if you add the right words…

(“I know…”)

Remember the Dirty Harry movies, Clint Eastwood rarely yelled he just told what he would do in a clear calm cold voice.

A trick I learned in the military. One must not demean a subordinate in front of his peers, but what the others do not hear on parade doesn’t count. Therefore a very close low voice usually accomplishes the task.

Please tell us you didn’t procreate!

That “lean in and whisper” doesn’t just scare the kids. . .precede the whisper with a ten-second dead-on stare. . .

When I was a kid, one of my aunts used to tell us that at least one of us was a “Spare”.

They just hadn’t decided which one. . . . Yet.