WFMW: The OTHER Golden Rule.

Several years ago, my brother in law introduced us to one of his rules to live by. "If I didn't cook it, I'm not going to complain about it." My sister's no Iron Chef. Actually, neither am I.

Think about it. It's a pretty good rule. If I burned dinner, odds are I already know it, and already feel like a knucklehead. Pointing it out after the fact is only going to make me feel bad. It's not going to unburn dinner. Better to eat it anyway. Or cheerfully have a bowl of cereal.


The rule has broader applications too. Think of all the other times you're (er...I'm) tempted to complain about something the kids or my husband does imperfectly after the fact, just to vent, or prove a point. It isn't constructive. It just causes bad feelings, and discourages future effort. Better to just leave well enough alone. Or fix it myself.

I'm a complainer. It's a tough habit to break. We've sort of adopted this rule in our house though, and it does help put things into perspective. If anyone is going to put forth the effort to try to do anything so you don't have to, you really can't, in good conscience complain about it.

If I didn't cook it, I'm not going to complain about it. It works for us.

To find out what's working for other people, check out http://www.wearethatfamily.com/.