..::Book::..

Ok, this book is flippin' boring. (I'll get money for reading it, but it's still boring.) I haven't read it since 2 weeks ago. The title is How to Win Friends and Influence People. It sounds like a handbook for life. The author makes it like a diary type thing. He refers to himself as "I", which sorta makes it confusing. I don't wanna read what this guy has done! He also talks about many, many people and quotes them. In some quotes, I don't even understand them. I'm a teenager, I wouldn't get that kind of stuff. In one chapter, he talks about how to get something you want without asking for it. His example that I found to be understandable was of someone named Stan Novak of Cleveland, Ohio.


"Stan came home from work one evening to find his youngest son, Tim, kicking and screaming on the living room floor. He was to start kindergarten the next day and was protesting that he would not go. Stan's normal reaction would have been to banish the child to his room and tell him he'd just better make up his mind to go. He had no choice. But tonight, recognizing that this would not really help Tim start kindergarten in the best frame of mind, Stan sat down and thought, 'If I were Tim, why would I be excited about going to kindergarten?' He and his wife made a list of all the fun things Tim would do such as finger-painting, singing songs, and making new friends. Then they put them into action. 'We all started finger-painting on the kitchen table-my wife, Lil, my other son, Bob, and myself, all having fun. Soon Tim was peeping around the corner. Nest he was begging to participate. 'Oh, no! You have to go to kindergarten first to learn how to finger-paint.' With all the enthusiasm I could muster I went the list talking in terms he could understand-telling him all the fun he would have in kindergarten. The next morning I thought I was the first one up. I went downstairs and found Tim sitting sound asleep in the living room chair. 'What are you doing here?' I asked. 'I'm waiting to go to kindergarten. I don't want to be late.' The enthusiasm of our entire family had aroused in Tim an eager want that no amount of discussion of threat could have possibly accomplished'"


I read this on one of my GQE test days. Later that same day, me and Amanda went to Head Start to work with mom. Too bad she wasn't there to help us in the big room. (The big room is where the little kids go to play.) We were with Shane or Mr. Matlock's class the whole day. We were in the big room when one of the little kids hurt his head. (It was sorta my fault, so I felt really bad because he started crying.) I sat him on a chair and started to rub his head while the other kids started to get in line. I asked him if he wanted to go to the nurse, and he said no. Then the other kids and the teachers left the big room and I asked him again. He still said no. He stopped crying by this time, and we needed to get back to the room for snack. I told him that we needed "to go to the classroom now." I went near him to grab his hand and he kept swinging his arms and feet around, so I tried my best to apply the principle. I asked him if he wanted to go home. He said yes, of course. So then I told him that if he went to class, he would get to go home. He STILL wouldn't budge! I tried everything I could think of! I was soon fed up and picked him up. Manda was with me and she said, "You need to let him walk." I set him down and grabbed his hand. Well, he fell on the freakin' floor. Luckily mom came out of a room near by. She picked him up by the hand and we ALL walked to class. That principle did NOT work for me. It was either that, or the kid was just way too stubborn. (Oh yeah, I actually left him in the big room "by himself")