Fireside Chats

Remember the Alamo.

We have had a bit of our own Alamo here. The arguing and fighting has/have gone on for months.
The cuter half and I are tired....the boy beligerant.

Today I re--implemented candle side talks.


What this is - it is a family talk; we do ours in the dining room, and while the candle is lit each person gets a turn to talk. We start with the oldest person in the room first down to the youngest.

I used to do this when the boy was younger. I would light candles in my parent's family room and the boy and I would sit on the floor and "chat". I would try to explain why people do what they do and how things are going to be and how he had to be a good boy and I would try to be a good Mom. Stuff like that.

I think I really started this fireside chat concept when I remembered about FDR. He used a marketing, well, ploy to make it feel like he was in a persons living room chatting about what was going on in the world.

One definition, from my fav, Wikipedia is here:
According to Roosevelt’s principal speechwriter, Judge Clinton Sorrel, FDR first used "fireside chat" in 1929 as Governor of New York. Roosevelt faced a conservative Republican legislature, so during each legislative session, he would occasionally address the citizens of New York directly. He appealed to radio listeners for help getting his agenda passed. Letters would pour in following each of these "chats," which helped pressure legislators to pass measures Roosevelt had proposed. He began making the informal addresses as President on March 12, 1933, during the Great Depression. However, according to Russell D. Buhite and David W. Levy, in their introduction to FDR's Fireside Chats, "The term 'Fireside Chat' was not coined by Roosevelt, but by Harry C. Butcher of CBS, who used the two words in a network press release before the speech of May 7, 1933. The term was quickly adopted by press and public, and the president himself later used it."

For us, since we don't have a fireplace, we use candles. Candles have a soothing effect and are very calming. There is a reason Party Lite candles are so popular. I can set up a candle melt and we can light it and look at the flame and just talk.

The results are that cuter half and the boy are doing somewhat better. We are giving the boy freedom to watch his shows and although I don't approve of the zombie apocolypse thing....well he can watch it and know he can talk to us about it later.

Tonight, the boy said that I had changed his life today. I don't really know how that happened? Or maybe it was because we had some dust ups during the talks and we all came back and tried again....or maybe he is finally realizing that the cuter half and I are not the bad people he wanted to think we were.

For now, I will take it.....and watch and see what happens.
I am certain we will need more candle side talks and when we do I am certain that they will be pretty darn interesting.


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