That Tricky Silent E

Teaching kids to read is tough because there are so many exceptions to the rules. To make it easier I created little sayings to remind the kids to take a 2nd look at certain words. For example, every time we come across an E at the end of a word, I would say, "There is that tricky E what does that mean?"

Today as I was giving Lena the "be kind to get what you want" speech my phone rings and it is the car dealership telling me that miraculously my car is done after I gave them a very firm talking to yesterday afternoon. I started to wonder am I being hypocritical? I was so sweet to the car people yesterday and they took advantage of my kindness! It wasn't until I turned on the Bitchy Lisa that something got done. Now I didn't yell at the guy or attack him , I just tactfully explained my expectations and he responded by making it happen. So am I teaching my kids the wrong thing? Kindness doesn't always work. So how do you teach your kids to be kind but also stand up for themselves when they are being taken advantage of? I've talked about this before, Lena is very similar to me in terms of her personality. Both of us were born with a natural tactfulness. This is a natural skill and if used correctly can be a strength, but if not developed appropriately can turn into more of an obstacle. For David, he seems to have been born with the understanding that sweetness gets him what he wants and with most people this works for him most of the time.  But when things do not go his way, it seems to effect him deep in his core and it takes him longer to bounce back.

So, what is the answer? I guess there are exceptions to every rule....maybe I'll call this one the Silent B! (;

Hugs and Raspberries
L