Why Would You Say It That Way?

Yesterday my granddaughter asked me why I phrased something in a particular way.

Mind you, she just turned four, so I don’t think she was questioning my grammar or sentence structure.

I was explaining why eating two ice pops in rapid succession could lead to a stomachache and some pretty unpleasant consequences. She looked at me and essentially asked, Why do you think I’m going to eat them that fast?

Good question.

Suddenly I realized I had taken a very simple point, two ice pops are one too many, and complicated it with a whole lot of unnecessary words and assumptions. We do that all the time.

We over-explain (MEGO---my eyes glaze over!), add details that aren’t needed, and use bigger words when smaller ones will do even when we're not trying to be the smartest boy or girl in the room.

If people have to work too hard to understand what we’re saying, we’ve lost the point.

My four-year-old granddaughter gave me a pretty good content lesson yesterday. Keep it simple and make the point.

My eyes glaze over, indeed!