Playing Telephone

Do you remember the game "Telephone" from when you were little? Everyone would stand in a line, a single phrase was whispered from one end of the line to the other without anyone repeating the phrase twice between the same two people, and the last person would say out loud what they heard. Occasionally, the correct message made it from one end of the line to the other. More often than not, a simple message has been misconstrued through the mouths of many person to end up being quite confusing. Today we read a book about just such a circumstance.

The book was about a cat who wore a pot on her ears to drown out the noise of having a lot of people in one house. However, when the cat's mother asked her to run errands for her, the cat could not understand what her mother asked because of the pot covering her ears. The cat's interpretation of what she thought her mother said was quite confusing and funny. While reading this book to my children I thought that teaching to communicate and convey messages accurately is a lot like playing telephone.

I can send Benjamin downstairs to ask Michael something and what Michael understands is not entirely what I asked Benjamin to say. When I send Benjamin to the other room to get something out of the closet he either hears the part about the closet or the part about the room, but not both. It made me laugh inside to think about how a game that was so entertaining as a child is not as entertaining when you are trying to teach correct principles and patterns of communication to your children. However, now that I have gain some perspective on a child's interpretation being comparable to the game of "Telephone" I think that I can be more compassionate when the exact message is not conveyed or the deed completed accurately.