Company Voice
We have a houseguest with us for a while this summer. A young man from church who is helping us with all kinds of things around our home. I got the notion to move everyone to different bedrooms and to paint each room in the process. We also had a few trees cut down a couple of months ago and those logs are still cascaded around the yard. On top of that there are a few thousand little things that always need done but never make it to the top of the list. So, he’s helping me catch up this summer as much as possible before we get back to the regular school grind.
Tonight we ate dinner at my parent’s house and after the meal, we were chatting while the kiddos and dh watched Clone Wars on television. My mom pointed out something that I had not noticed. She said that I used my ‘company voice’ when talking to R and that I used my ‘family voice’ when talking to everyone else.
Now, everyone is familiar with the concept of a ‘company voice’. Sometimes it’s your ‘business voice’ or ‘telephone voice’. You know, when you’re yelling at the kids, the phone rings, and suddenly you’re syrupy sweet to the person on the other end of the line. And, I really wasn’t aware that I was using my ‘company voice’ with R. In fact, I was trying not to make much difference between him and the other kiddos.
But, evidently I was making a difference enough for my mom to notice :(
Which got me thinking…
Shouldn’t I use my ‘company voice’ with everyone? The ‘company voice’ is more polite, more patient, more friendly, and less crabby. It is more gentle and kind. It isn’t harsh or annoyed.
If I choose to be more kind toward a subset of people, shouldn’t that be the most important people in my life? Shouldn’t I offer my best to my family, and not to ‘company’? The most lasting impressions of my life will be left with my family and those closest to me, not with those who pass through momentarily. Yet, those passing acquaintances are the people who often get to see me with my best foot forward.
What a disservice that does to my kiddos and my dh.
My prayer tonight is not that I will begin treating our houseguest with less courtesy than I have been, but that I will improve my attitude toward my own kiddos. That I will treat them as well as I treat company. That there will be no discernible difference between my ‘company voice’ and my ‘family voice’.
3 Comments to Company Voice
Love this post!!
What a wonderful post. :-)
I think about this all the time. Especially that I tend to use my authorative directors voice with the kids. I’m struggling to control that and be much more sweeter.
I followed your link from ‘the mom blogs’.
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June 29, 2009