My son Scott sends this blog to friends.  And when they comment on what I'v written, he sends me a note telling me that I owe him a TL.  I've told you about TLs before.  When my mom set dinner on the table in the evening, Dad would bless it and then we would trade TLs.  Mom invented this game, this thing, this idea--and named it "Tell Last--TL."

One of us would say, "I have a TL for you."  The other person would know that you had heard something nice about them, so they would rack their brain for something nice someone had said about you.  They also knew that they would get their compliment "Last."  So it was--in effect--a bribe.  Tell me something nice you heard about me and I'll tell you what I heard about you.

What it did was make us aware of being good listeners, especially when people said something good about another person.  Maybe the motive wasn't pure, but the result made us understand how important it was to pass compliments along.  We learned the joy of hearing something nice someone had said about us.

Praise is a powerful aphrodisiac.  It makes you want more.  And when you hear something good that you have done or said, you want to repeat what you did.  Criticism accomplishes nothing.  Praise is what we want.  When you tell me you enjoy what I write, I keep writing.  Scott calls me with a TL.

Squig wants to please me.  Because I always praise him.  Because I tell him he is a good dog when he does what I expect him to do.  Lately, he has been going to the mail box with me without a leash.  When I started letting him go with me to get the mail, he would run down to the neighbors and get distracted and not come when I called.  So, I would go get him,  pick him up and say "Come." I would sit him down on the porch, pat his head and tell him what a good dog he was to "Come."  He slowly got the hang of it.  He loved the praise.  More than he loved to wander.

Some people whip their dogs.  Or yell at them.  Love and praise are much more effective.  It works on dogs.  It works on people.  Try giving TL's to people.  I assure you that they will glow.  Nothing is as wonderful as hearing something good someone has said about you.