The Elephant in the Room

So this evening, we were having a family discussion about "feelings."  We were trying to teach the kids a thing or two about controlling their anger and not screaming at each other (I know, a futile thing to try to do).  Anyway, we were talking about different feelings we can have, and the kids started listing them off:  happy, sad, aggravated (I thought this was a pretty good one, contributed by our 5-year-old Maggie who had learned about being aggrivated on Martha Speaks, a PBS cartoon (seriously, folks, she would have never learned that watching SpongeBob SquarePants, so donate to your local PBS station so I don't have to watch one more of their ridiculous fund drives!)), scared . . . .  The list goes on and on.  Of course, no one mentioned anger, so I said, "Okay, is anyone going to mention the elephant in the room?"  This meant, of course, that everyone was avoiding the one feeling that was the point of the discussion.

My oldest daughter (who knows better, by the way), turned to me and said, "The elephant in the room?  Is that you?"  Pretty low blow, I think, to be called an elephant by your own daughter.  Obviously, she was confusing me with the 800-pound gorilla in the room, who promptly ended the meeting and sent everyone to bed.