Friday, March 20, 2009

CLOWNFISH and COMPROMISE

This weeks biggest argument, believe it or not, was ALL ABOUT Clown Fish. Mason says they are poisonous and Tyler refuses to believe it! It was quite a passionate debate.
"FINE YOU TWO! Let's just Google it and stop this madness!"
Turns out they are NOT poisonous. At least not that we could find. However, just a couple of interesting facts that we DID learn....
1. Clown fish are covered in a sort of mucous that protects them from the poison of the Anemone, which we all know {THANK YOU FINDING NEMO} is where these stripey fish make their homes.

2. Clown fish eat undigested food and their poop...uh hem, I mean "fecal matter" provides nutrition for the Anemone. How nice!

3. A female will lay hundreds or even thousands of eggs...all will be male. They will hatch within 6-10 days! How is that for gestation!

4. All Clown fish are born male. Then they all live together, 1 female and 1 male with many immature males...their children. How then did this female come to be. Well, they will wait until she dies. When she does one of the males will turn into a female....WHA?! Yep. I wonder how they go about choosing who gets that job?! Crazy isn't it?!

Now you know a little more than you did 2 min. ago...unless you already knew all this, then Yay for a refresher course!

We did have ONE other argument. It was quite a funny one. A life lesson was taught and a solution reached. Here is how it played out.

No one could decide on last nights movie, which has become a nightly ritual. So, I had them each pick the TWO movies they would most want to watch.

Then they all sat back, covered their eyes and we took a silent vote. They got TWO votes, but had to compromise and one of their votes had to be for someone elses movie. We eliminated all but two.

Madagascar 2 & Night at the Museum. Easy enough...you would think, but not so!

From there I had Mason explain to Tyler and Jake, in just a few words, why he thought Night at the Museum would be best. This was taken quite seriously. He did a great job explaining his favorite scene. They all laughed. Jake and Tyler then in turn explained why they thought M2 would be best. They too took their calling quite seriously.

THEN COMES THE LIFE LESSON.....

NOW, Mason was called forward again and asked to argue the other side. Tell Jake & Tyler what would be best about watching M2 tonight. He did a great job! Then Jake & Tyler did the same. Presenting why it would be best for NATM. Jake resisted a little, but submitted and did a great job.

Why is this a life lesson? Compromise happened because they were able to find the good in both things. The boys were totally into this whole process. Then we talked about how great it is to find the good in everything and how it just seems to make life a lot happier, even when things don't go our way!

All were willing to compromise, but I was happy to see that the majority was swayed and Night at the Museum was watched. All were happy! Problem solved...until tonight, then we will likely do it all again! :)

5 comments:

Alea said...

Amy~ I have a clownfish story. I always thought it was funny how sweet and nice they portray clownfish in Nemo. My experience has always been that they are super protective to the point that they are violent! At PGJH I was in the marine club (geeky, I know) and we'd always clean the tank. That nasty little clown fish would bite us! It was war with the little clown fish! After multiple bites one day we were frustrated and wondering what to do. Someone was resting their hand on the rim of the tank and that little fish literally jumped out of the water to try and attack us! Pure evil I tell you. Anyway, that's my story. I still like Finding Nemo though. :)

Just Us said...

How lucky those boys are not only to spend time with Jake but with you. You are such a good Mom.
Thanks for the clownfish tidbits. I never knew...

Norris Fam said...

Not that my vote counts, but I would have wanted Night at the Museum too!

You're going to have a sad quiet house on your hands when those cute boys go home!

Diane said...

Mark's parents sent us a book about fish from Australia and we read that about the clown fish. I have to say I find the whole thing a little disturbing.

I am going to have to remember the art of persuasion next time we are deciding on a movie. I love your idea.

Lindsey said...

It's interesting the tidbits of information that Pixar will leave out when it makes a movie, especially in Finding Nemo's case. I guess, then, that all of those baby Clownfish eggs WOULD have been called Marlon Jr.! And then ONE would have *turned* into Coral Jr.! And they must have cut the scenes where Nemo eats his own poop...er, FM.

That is a great way to teach compromise. I am very impressed.

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