You know, my wooden ruler exercise last week seemed to have just the right effect. Later that morning, a conversation between the two cutest participants in the event drifted across the room to my ears:

T: “My father used to make my sister and me go out to the yard and cut a switch from the poplar tree in the yard if we misbehaved.”

E: “My mother used to use the wooden spoon.”

T: “We quickly found out not to cut the thinner branches: they hurt far more. Although the worst thing of all wasn’t the whipping – it was the anticipation and that walk across the yard.”

E: “Oh, the wooden spoon hurt. I can still hear the sound of that kitchen drawer opening…”

As you might imagine, I found it quite tough to keep my concentration during the next part of the session!