February 13, 2013: The Silent Treatment

Ben in a silent-ish stance

I called Grant after school yesterday to check in. After establishing my estimated time of arrival, I asked to talk to Ben. "He's not talking" was Grant's response. I then asked Grant to put Ben on the phone. "He just stares at me and won't talk." At that point I was annoyed.

Hanging up with Grant and ready to hand it to Ben, a text came through from son #2. "I don't work today and I'm not talking to Grant." Okay. I got my answer, so I let it be.

I walked in the door to an agitated Grant (anyone who knows Grant knows this isn't pretty). "Ben's giving me the SILENT TREATMENT!!! He hasn't talked to me for two hours!!" Wow, I hadn't heard the term "silent treatment" used in my house before. In fact, I don't think I heard that phrase since my own high school years. I told Grant to work it out with Ben and went about my own busyness.

By bedtime, Grant popped his head in my room. "Mom, he's still giving me the silent treatment!" I told Grant to go to bed; he needed a new day. As I sat in bedtime silence, I thought about how quiet my night was so far. Much quieter than typical. You see, my boys bicker a lot. They fight continually and are loud. Grant being younger and smaller has always used his voice as weapon against Big Brother Ben. And, trust me, it gets tiring. But not so much tonight. Silence.

Today after work, I noticed they were talking again. And no screaming or fighting. Hmmmm. I inquired of Ben on how yesterday's silent treatment came to be.

"Mom, I got sick of Grant, so I told him if he was a douche or disrespected me, he would get the silent treatment." Alrighty then. Ben went on to explain Grant's response of "idiot". Ouch. So Ben delivered on his threat and it was nothing short of torture for Grant. You see, these boys have a love/hate relationship. They fight when they're together, but miss each other when apart.

So after years of my begging, threatening, and punishing them for loudly killing each other; Ben found a resolution to our chronic household issue. Who would have thunk? Are Mom's allowed to give the silent treatment? Hmmmm...Ben's going to need to school me in the art.