Assembly Required

Almost everything that we purchase comes with a set of directions on how to properly use, prepare or manage the item. The question is: Do you follow the directions (aka actually read them)? Or...
-do you simply discard them without a moment's thought?
-do you flip through them briefly, making the appropriate mumbling responses that indicate you understand them?
-do you keep them on standby, "just in case" you get stuck along the way?

In our house, Adrienne and I are alike. We read the directions. We follow the directions to the letter. We even have a file in the filing cabinet just for these instructions. The directions for the filing cabinet are also in that file.

Leo and Aaron and even Ryan are more alike. Men. Who needs directions?
I say this with love.

Amy and Heather are a blend of the rest of us, with Amy leaning more towards the "pssssh...directions...who needs them" and Heather being more directional.

Enter Christmas Day.
Enter new gadgets.
Enter furniture to be put together.
Let's just say I am glad it wasn't a bike.

I got a bookcase/desk combo (assembly required) and I followed the directions exactly. I have had times where I have not done this and pieces were put together wrong with unfinished edges exposed, etc. I hate taking things apart to fix what I could have prevented in the first place. Therefore, I read the directions.

The desk looks very nice by the way. (Thank you Aaron!)

Amy and Heather got what I thought were simple MP3 players. Just something that they can play music on and I won't get all bent out of shape over when they run them through the wash cycle. Did you know that iPods do not like being laundered? They don't, believe me, they don't.

Where was I? Oh yes, MP3 players and directions. Heather has her directions, Amy does not. I am trying to help them through the setup process. The manufacturers lie; they are NOT simple little gadgets. I now have to find directions on how to convert music files to a format that the little beasts can recognize. The MP3's that is, not Amy and Heather.

I seriously need directions on how to understand the directions. And a techie dictionary.

Enter an ice-cream maker and a packet of ice-cream mix. Oh, and Heather.
Now, she did read the directions, on both the machine and the mix. The machine she understood, the mix, not so much. It wouldn't be funny to me, but this is the second time this mix has thrown her for a loop. The first time, she just mixed it all together and stuck the connection in the freezer and expected ice-cream to happen. Umm, Heather, what about the "freeze as directed" part. You know, like in the ice-cream maker?

This time, she understood the ice-cream maker part, but the mix? She threw it all into the canister, unmixed, thinking the machine would mix it for her. Not so. Instead, it instantly froze the clumps of dry mix with milk in icy chunks that needed chipped out of the canister before we could proceed.

She was not happy. But, to her credit, she tried. The directions really aren't all that specific and easy to misunderstand. What is it they say, "If you don't succeed, try, try again" or something like that. Next time...perfection.

Directions. Instruction manuals. Patterns. Schematics. Parents.

They all tell us what to do. Sometimes they make sense, sometimes it's just a lot of words.

My today resolution: When I give instruction or direction to my children, I will (try) to make sense and I will be patient (Lord, help me here). We all learn differently and hear things as we want to hear them. I don't always need to be right. 

Love,
Dianne