kids say the darndest things

One of the days of the writing project, we all made our way to the Carlsbad beaches to spend a day in the sun writing. I will freely admit to doing more reading (I had a new to me Kage Baker book; it was good) and watching others than writing. One of the most amazing sights that day was what must have been an entire pod of dolphins playing in the surf. They were within feet of the shore (and us!)and leapt and dove with abandon.
The funniest, though, was a small grubby little boy who stomped over to his parents in high dudgeon.
Clearly something had gone very wrong with his morning. His hands were gripping a red toy shovel tightly and his face was screwed up with an expression of nearly adult anger. He stomped over to his dad and SCREAMED at the top of his lungs,

"I'm the boss of everyone, and they're not listening!"

to which his dad, now forever in my memory as one of the good ones, replied very quietly and calmly,

"maybe it was because you were yelling. It's hard to listen when someone is yelling."

I'm fairly certain the kid didn't really understand the response. But the response from the teachers around the beach towels was one of quiet appreciation. It's true, and often forgotten; it's nearly impossible to listen to someone who's yelling.

Something to remember.