Gosh! My house is filled with sensitive people...

Everyone here knows that the mmf is not exactly the most sensitive of people. I am slightly better than doppy as my level of empathy is higher (due to my literary training) while doppy's level of sensitivity is usually only activated when he realises that I have kept quiet for 10 minutes or more when I explicitly tells him that I am upset with him.

Our son is the complete opposite of us! His lips quiver at the slightest hint of harsh words directed at him. For some strange reason, he seems to understand when we're 'telling him' off. When he fusses and I comment that he's very 'ba-bai', he will immediately burst into tears in protest and need words of praise to be heaped immediately upon him before he will piped down.

And just yesterday, I made my help cry.

Doppy realises that our living room's reading lamp was broken and asked me if our help had accidentally damaged it. I did not know anything about it so after doppy placed the lamp outside our home to be disposed of, I asked F if she knew that the lamp was broken. She said that she merely lifted the lamp up and it came off from the base and I said it was okie but she must let us know when things were broken or damaged in the house. She nodded and replied, 'Yes, mum' and I left it at that and went back to watching telly.

Imagine my shock when I was poo-pooing in the loo and doppy came into the room to tell me that our help went to him with tears brimming in her eyes and told him that she did not mean to break the lamp but she was sorry and we could dock her pay if we want to. Doppy told her it was okie and we did not hold it against her but thought that it was better that I spoke with her after I was done with my business.

So it was with me knocking on her door and entering her room only to see her promptly burst into tears when I merely uttered the question, "F, why are you crying?'!!! Gosh! So I reassured her that we were not blaming her and that accidents happened and we would not dock her pay .. yada yada yada. In between sobs, I managed to make out that she was afraid that we would return her to the agency cos it was only her first month at work and she had already made mistakes. I had to console her and reassure her that it is okie if accidents happen as long as she tells us about them and not leave us to find out for ourselves. She finally calmed down a little and hopefully was reassured by me.

Before you jump to conclusions and thought that I had spoken harshly with her at the first confrontation, I did not. I merely asked her if she toppled the lamp accidentally while she was mopping the floor, that was all. And I swear that I spoke it in a neutral tone. I was so bemused with her reaction that I told doppy, 'Gosh! If I had really given her a scolding, I think she would have dissolved into a puddle of tears'.

So yeah, methinks it's karma. This is God's way of training the mmf yet again to be more sensitive with our words and actions by giving us two people in our household who are not similarly thick-skinned or thick-headed like us both. We resolve to toughen xp up though so that he won't immediately turn on the faucets the moment his insensitive parents speak out of turn or too directly to him. :P