Life & Times of 5 Busy Nortons

Monday, October 5, 2015

Ben the Padiddle or Fadoodle Master

Ben with his buddy Oliver.  They are spending 2 afternoons a week together this school year.  They are having so much fun playing.  We took Oliver to see the police station.  He liked everything but the "jail" as Ben calls the holding cell.  At that point he wanted to go home...until we asked if he wanted to turn on the lights in the police car.  Then he quickly felt better.  
If you want to change a behavior in your family, you need a plan, right?  A well-thought-out, organized effort, and maybe a chart and some stickers.  That's what I would do.  But in our family, a big change came from a last minute, not-at-all-thought-out, no-planning, no-sticker idea from Daddy.  We were getting ready for prayers one night.  Someone was a little gassy.  No one said excuse me.  Dad blurted out his idea that from now on, if you burped or farted, and didn't say excuse me, someone could say.....(he made up a word) padiddle.  And if you got padiddled, you had to do 5 pushups.  I laughed, we moved on to prayers and thought that might be the end of Dad's funny idea.
BOY WAS I WRONG.  This system caught on like wildfire.  And you better watch  yourself around Ben.  His is the "padiddle" master.  (Except originally he said fadoodle instead).  He is constantly on alert.  We even had to create a rule that you have to wait for the person to finish burping before you can "padiddle" them so they have a chance to say excuse me.  And, think you're safe with an SBD (silent but deadly)?  NO!  Ben is constantly sniffing the air ready to "padiddle."
I have seen a 100% increase in my family's use of "excuse me" after any kind of flatulence.  But, sometimes you are too late.  And you are doing pushups.  Because Ben is always listening.  And sniffing.  I am not kidding you, he can even come into my room in the middle of the night for a potty run.  If some gas happens to pass while I am waiting for him, he sleepily mumbles his "padiddle".  I am ashamed to say how many times I have been caught.

Now I am wondering what else I could apply this to?

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