“Self Control”

Any number of mental health professionals have complimented my ability to use pop culture references to help my eleven-year-old son process his feelings. This is so innate to me that I was surprised the first time, but I suppose it does help put things on his level. It is definitely easier to get “don’t be like Donald Duck” than any other method of teaching him about the importance of keeping his temper. Also showing him Donald as the consequences of failure, because it’s objectively true that Donald is worse for himself because he lets himself go as often as he does. In fact, today’s short is actually useful regarding a tool we are deliberately trying to teach him.

Donald is spending a peaceful afternoon out in the yard, listening to the radio and sipping lemonade while in his hammock. He’s listening to Uncle Smiley (Otis Harlan), the musical philosopher, who sings a cheerful ditty about the importance of counting to ten when you lose your temper. Nature then attacks Donald, who is not here for it. It starts out small, with a fly repeatedly landing on his foot, and eventually escalates to a woodpecker who’s apparently choosing Donald as a target by the end.

I mean, yeah, flies are irritating. But by using that as a moment where he needs to count to ten, Donald shows us exactly how hair-trigger he is. It’s a fly. Sure, the rules are different in a Disney cartoon, where enormous amounts of nature is at least semi-sentient, but generally speaking, flies aren’t going after anyone on purpose. You swat it, or at least brush it away, and go on with your life. If it bothers you that much, there’s fly strips and things, and you can get the fly away. Being that upset by a fly indicates there is something wrong with you.

Donald is also counting to ten wrong. That sounds silly, but it’s what we’re working on around here. The point of the counting is to slow everything down. While you count, you take slow, deep breaths. You try to relax tense muscles. You try to separate yourself from whatever’s bothering you. Donald is doing none of that. Counting to ten is not just giving you space to lose your temper a little later. It’s trying to clear your head before you lash out. “Count to ten” is just the simplified way of explaining it.

So, yes, I’ll be showing this short to my son. Talking it over with him. Using it as a teaching tool. Donald Duck, Aquatic Sociopath, is a running joke in our household as much as it is in this column. (And we’ve got more of it coming up for this month.) He’s not a fan of Donald, and I suspect that’s in part because he sees at least some of his own actions in Donald’s. He wants to be better than Donald. As indeed who does not.