Keys

Yesterday JoEllen and I went to hear an expert tell us about love and logic. For those unfamiliar, no - we aren't discussing the phenomenon of affection, or the sub-discipline often studied by philosophers, linguists, and computer scientists. Love and logic is a way to manage children or presidential tweets without getting unduly worked up. If you believe that parenting is an exercise in preparing your kids for an independent life, L&L helps you give the rug rats small dozes of responsibility for their own behavior. In an un-ironical coincidence, we left the kids alone at home for the evening while we went to the talk.

As in every patriotic home, the family Mossberg pump action resting on a well used stack of bibles behind the front door should be Vivian and Evan's first line of defence. 

But when the kids are alone at home, they receive additional instructions. Like who to admit. On Christmas eve, Grandma knocked on the front door. For that particular home alone session, the kids were operating under "No keys, no entry" rules. So Vivian and Evan politely waved at Grandma who was standing outside on a very cold porch with her suitcase and two dogs. Meanwhile, the front door remain firmly bolted. They resisted every attempt by Grandma to get them to open up.

Finally, Vivian broke the impasse by scribbling "Do you Have a Key" on a post-it and showing it to Grandma through the glass. Which, despite some random capitalizations, got the message across. [From here on, my original post has been edited due to a comment by Jo who had the fact right, as usual]. Grandma didn't have a key, but she told Vivian she should let her in anyway. The kids eventually did let her in and they didn't get in trouble. We were surprised and heartened that they occasionally listen to what we say.