The second old lady took a slow sip of her tea and leaned in slightly, as if sharing a great secret.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWell,\u201d she said calmly, \u201cI broke Billy of the habit in just one week.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first lady\u2019s eyes widened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh please tell me how! I\u2019ve tried everything\u2014gentle reminders, scolding, even the doctor said it might just be nervous behavior!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second lady smiled faintly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Continue reading on next page\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t shout. I didn\u2019t argue. I just made him notice it<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNotice it?\u201d the first lady repeated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes,\u201d she nodded. \u201cEvery time he bit his nails, I would quietly stop what I was doing\u2026 and stare at him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first lady blinked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat\u2019s it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh no,\u201d she said. \u201cThat was just the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She leaned closer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAfter a few days, I started gently copying him. When he bit his nails, I would also bite mine. Slowly. Right in front of him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first lady looked horrified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou did WHAT?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second lady shrugged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe found it\u2026 unsettling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She continued, \u201cThen I escalated. When he bit his nails, I would look at him, bite mine, and then ask him very politely, \u2018Should we both continue, or should we stop together?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first lady almost spilled her tea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd that worked?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh yes,\u201d she said confidently. \u201cHe stopped within a week.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was a pause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first lady sat back, thinking carefully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat\u2019s incredible\u2026\u201d she said slowly. \u201cBut\u2026 what if he started again?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second lady smiled again, this time a little mischievously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh, he never dared to,\u201d she replied. \u201cBecause now, whenever he even looks<\/em> at his nails\u2026 I start reaching for mine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n They both sat in silence for a moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then the first lady whispered:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026I think I\u2019m more afraid of you than I am of my husband now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And both of them burst into laughter over their tea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The second old lady took a slow sip of her tea and leaned in slightly, as if sharing a great…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":17000,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16999"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17001,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16999\/revisions\/17001"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}