Cross Cultural Discipline

Yesterday, I was off doing one of my favorite team sports: grocery shopping. I say "team" because I always try to be as cooperative as I can in the store by reaching things for short old ladies and pointing out where things are to old men. And also, you know how you pass someone in an aisle, and then you past them in the next, and suddenly, it feels as if you are shopping together! Anyway, I came upon the cereal aisle and was deep in concentration with the brain of a math major-turned-mother, calculating the ounces and cents versus the health benefits and what each kids likes and so on. There are probably hundreds of boxes of cereal at Meijer and to make it even more complicated, there is stuff on the other side of the aisle which I need to look at. Suddenly I overheard a hispanic woman say in a stearn tone, "Uno, Dos, Tres," to her little boy running up the aisle and I chuckled at how this expression or method of discipline must cross cultural boundaries. But somehow I can't picture Oma B. saying, "Een, Twee, Drie..."