If You Were Here...#8

Post Card #8

Greetings! Hope the weather is fine where you are! Over here, it’s like this:

Text cues are important here. Written words helps us communicate with our son, from his daily schedule to instructions to social expectations. My latest achievement: two opposing signs on his double sink reading “NO food” and “Food here,” a reminder to scrape his dishes into the side with the garbage disposal. Those simple words have quieted a daily argument between this kid and his mom who despises wiping soggy chunks out of the sink.

Now if I could just convince the package designers for our daily products to get with this program! Sure, my son can grab something he likes from the pantry without reading the labels – it doesn’t throw him when the bottles say YELLOW, TOMATO, and SKIPPY CREAMY more prominently than mustard, ketchup, and peanut butter.

But can you find the word “foil” on a box of REYNOLD’S WRAP?? Or, the words “dish soap” on a bottle of DAWN? (It’s “dishwashing liquid,” apparently, but who calls it that?). Why is the content of AVEENO “lotion” the tiniest word on the label? It’s no wonder he hesitates at a request for olive oil – but I don’t really want to ask my son, “Could you hand me that EXTRA VIRGIN?”

That’s the view from here - more soon!