Why Does It Sound So Different When He Says It?

This afternoon, we hosted a small gathering at our home, Baha'i Feast (this is a once-a-Baha'i-month (aka every 19 days) event, that is comprised of three parts: the spiritual portion for saying prayers and such, the administrative portion to talk about events in the community, and the social portion). Most Baha'i Feasts in our community tend to take place in the evening (past bedtime for Malcolm), so it is a rare treat when Feast falls on a weekend. It did this month, so we offered to host the event in the afternoon. It was great fun, with a wonderful turn out, including the other Baha'i family in our community with young children -- twin girls about a year and a half younger than Malcolm.

Malcolm has been very excited to host Feast, helping to clean the apartment, helping me to decorate a cake to serve, practicing reciting a prayer from memory, even picking out all his musical toys to share with the guests to sing songs together (a common part of the spiritual portion). Often, when the administrative portion starts, the kids will go off to play, returning for the closing prayer and joining in on the social portion. So when we got to that part, I told Malcolm that he was welcome to stay, or that he could invite the other children to go to his room and play with toys.

For the record, my exact words to my son were "Malcolm, you may invite your friends to see your room and share in your toys." See how I model good behavior? How I use words of courtesy and welcome, like "invite" and "share"?

Does he say "Friends, please be welcome"? No. How about "Would you like to play with my toys?" No. Heck, I'd even settle for "Let's go to my room!"

Instead, he goes running by the other kids, and as he reaches the start of the hallway, he turns around and yells at the kids "Keep up!"