Legible Lamentations

It always bothered me to hear disapproval of the menu before I even turned on the stove, or to spend mealtime hearing how much someone didn’t like the food. I decided we needed a new rule at our house: all complaints must be in writing.

With this new system, complaints are cut to a minimum and I find that when I do receive a letter listing the vegetables my family prefers or a recipe they don’t want repeated, I sincerely try to take their suggestions.

And I try to do likewise. I do my nagging in writing. On our bulletin board, I keep a list posted. But I find that it isn’t a long one because I evaluate carefully before adding each item. Writing it down takes away the emotional overtones and forces me to be exact and specific, to think through the problem, and to examine consequences. My husband and children like to quietly surprise me by doing the chore and then crossing it off the list. I find, with the passing of a few days, that many items resolve themselves. Ruth N. Dickson, Salt Lake City, Utah