Why don't kids ever listen?

Have you ever wondered why kids don't listen to what we say? Or is it that they don't understand what we are saying so they choose not to respond? Or could it be that they are processing so much information in their brains that it all gets jumbled up and they don't remember which demand goes with which situation.

Think about it. We tell them to "look both ways before crossing", "Change your underwear every morning", "put your dishes in the dishwasher", "Don't play ball in the road", "do your homework", or "no dessert until after you finish your dinner". Then when they are facing a situation they can't remember which one of our many demands fit. They are outside playing with a friend and the ball goes in the road - they remember being told something about this but was it to brush their teeth, or was it look both ways before crossing? Then they are finished with dinner - were they supposed to put their dishes in the dishwasher or change their underwear? AAAHHH they get so confused!!!

Later on in life we are told what to do in emergencies. Do we get under our desk during a fire or an earthquake? Do we run away if a dog is chasing us or do we curl up and play dead? Is CPR 15 to 1 or 15 to 2 or has it changed AGAIN? SO MANY THINGS TO REMEMBER!!!

I bring this up because I have been reminded of a time when my daughter, Aranda, was young (about 3 years old) she got into a hive of bees and they were everywhere, including in her clothes, I felt a feeling of panic and knew that I had been taught what to do in this situation. I quickly ran through all of my options and finally decided on the one that I thought would work best. STOP DROP AND ROLL. I pushed this sweet girl to the ground and started rolling her. As she started screaming louder because of the pain I quickly realized my choice of action was incorrect - it would probably be better to run away and get as far away from the bees as possible. I ran with her in my arm - tearing her clothes off down to her bare nothings as we went. Finally - after what seemed to be hours of screaming, crying and being stung by bees - I got all of her clothes off. I think the bees were as shocked by my behavior as I was because they all left as fast as they could once they were free from the bondage of her clothes. We counted and she had 70+ bee stings all over her body. Oh, did I mention that this all happened during my cousins wedding? Okay, I have to admit - this was one of my many bad mom moments!

So, the next time your child watches TV instead of doing homework just remember - They may have too much information to process so they just did what they thought was correct.