Only with an autistic kid...

Marguerite

Active Member
difficult child 3 has just reached THAT time of day when he feels school hours are over. However, he didn't get enough work done today. He said he was going for a walk - he often does, to stretch his legs after a busy day on schoolwork.
I said to him, "OK, good idea to get some exercise, but you need to do more on your schoolwork later on after it's dark."
He said, "OK, I'll do that..." as he headed off to get his boots on. Then he came back in.
"Should I have said instead, 'Whatever!' in that irritate tone of voice? Would that have been more appropriate?"

I gently told him that it was NEVER appropriate in our house because it's something he's got from watching US TV shows, we actually don't say "Whatever" like that in Australia.

He was quite accepting of the need to do more work, although maybe not exactly enthusiastic, but he really wants to be seen as behaving indistinguishably normal. He's actually asking me to help him rehearse what is basically stubborn, defiant behaviour.

What next?

Marg
 
F

flutterbee

Guest
He's actually asking you to help him rehearse normal teenage rebellion behavior. :wink:

If I could choose, I would pick the irate "Whatever" over the long, drawn-out, whinny, "Gawd" that I get. It's like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.
 

Marguerite

Active Member
Heather, we don't get the "Gawd" either. I DO get an impatient, "OK,OK!" or maybe, "Alright, already! Quit nagging!" to which I reply, "I wouldn't have to say a thing if you did what you were asked, the first time."

You know how it goes. But it's the "please coach me to be a defiant typical teen" stuff that has be pole-axed.

Marg
 

On_Call

New Member
OMG!! :slap: I can't imagine difficult child requesting my assistance on how to be appropriately inappropriate! :rofl:

Good luck with that one!!
 

busywend

Well-Known Member
:rofl:

That is too funny! He reacts appropriately and then asks you if he should have said something inappropriately. He is such a sweetie!
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Hahahahaha, Meg! Funny! I can so relate to you and your kids. Lucas copies catch-phrases from television too! If he were watching an Aussie show, he'd probably pick up your accent :wink:
 

Marguerite

Active Member
Now THAT would be an achievement - so few non-Aussies can get the accent right. Meryl Streep got it perfectly in that movie ("Evil Angels", in Australia) because Lindy Chamberlain actually didn't have a pure Aussie accent at the time, she had a trace of Kiwi in it too. And Streep captured it perfectly.

That Simpsons episode - missed it by a mile. AND they made our Prime Minister look too handsome. Maybe the reality would have been too unbelievable? Eyebrows like wild rats, thick rimmed glasses, the beginning of a comb-over; but our current Leader of the Opposition looks like the Milky Bar Kid (actually what his political opponents call him - that's about the worst they can do).

difficult child 3 was reading aloud to me tonight. He reads dialogue with a US accent, because so much of what he watches (movies, TV) is subtitled, plus he hears the accent as he reads the dialogue. I think I'll have to get him watching more British comedy.

Marg
 

--Eleanor--

New Member
To get the true American effect (California, to be more specific), he would need to sigh impatiently, roll his eyes, and say "WhatEVER" and then flounce off. (It works best, though, for 13 year old girls with long blonde hair so they can toss their hair as they flounce off...)

:beach:
 

Marguerite

Active Member
Eleanor, you said, "To get the true American effect (California, to be more specific), he would need to sigh impatiently, roll his eyes, and say "WhatEVER" and then flounce off. (It works best, though, for 13 year old girls with long blonde hair so they can toss their hair as they flounce off...)"

easy child 2/difficult child 2 can do it very well, but it's red hair she tosses instead. It's the actress in her, I suspect, but she only ever does it as satire. I mean, we see the "WhatEVER" thing on TV - various TV shows, movies etc but apart from young kids trying to emulate these, it really is meaningless in our culture down under.

We have OTHER words, I'm sad to say, usually telling you where to go and what to do with yourself when you get there. Much more graphic, far less ambiguous. Thankfully, difficult child 3 hasn't tried these with me either. Plus, we have ingrained into us the standard responses which are either, "I've been and I liked it - saw you were there ahead of me," to "shall we try that again, from the top?" (often accompanied with a clutch round the throat by the parent).

Aren't teens wonderful?

Marg
 
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