Resolutions

On his first day back from winter break, I asked Mark about his day. He said they'd set New Year's resolutions in class.

"Mine is to stop talking so much," he said. "I need to listen more in class."
 
"Good for you," I praised. I paused for a moment, then asked, "Did you choose that resolution, or did the teacher?"

"I did," he answered.

"I'm proud of you," I said. "Do you...think it'll be hard to do?"

Mark scoffed. "No," he said. "I'm an awesome multi-tasker."

"You're what?" I asked.

"I can do lots of things at once. For example, I finished all my homework today while listening to a video about castles at the same time." He smiled, quite proud of himself.

"What did you learn about castles?" I asked.

"They're big," he said. "You know...they're castles."

While I was pondering that, Mark told me, "Oh, and my resolution will be easy because I'm good at talking and listening at the same time, too."

"You're good at--" I started, but Mark interrupted with, "Yeah, I do it all the time with you--I can talk to you AND listen to you."

"You never list--" I said, but he cut me off again.

"I'm really talented," he said.

I paused. The irony of this entire conversation was lost on Mark. 

I took another tact. "So...what were some of the other resolutions? What are the other kids gonna work on?"

"I dunno," Mark shrugged. "I didn't ask."

"Oh," I said. "Did you tell them yours?"

"Of course," he said, sarcastically.

I looked at him and repeated what he'd just said. "Your resolution is to talk less and listen more? Then you told the entire class that, but didn't ask anybody else about their resolutions. Is that correct?"

The little light suddenly came on in his head.

"Oops," he said, giggling.

"Don't worry," I told my awesome little multi-tasker. "You've got a whole year to work on it."

Mark just sighed. Neither of us is sure he'll even make it past the first week.