Listening Skills

This morning my wife instructed me on how to make cream of wheat for our kids. Miraculously, they love it. They call it porridge, like the three little bears.  I followed the instructions, but it came out lumpy.  My wife called me on the phone while I was on the train to tell me about her conversation with our son about his porridge:

Mommy: "How's your porridge?"

Son: "I think you did it wrong."

Mommy: "Actually Daddy did it.  I told him how."

Son: "Daddy isn't a very good listener."

Then tonight, while singing to my toddler, I heard some creaking from the baby's crib and she was crying.  I turned to see what it was and she was standing up holding on to the sidebar which was down at her knee level.  She could have fallen off the crib.  Two thoughts ran through my mind: "When did she learn to do that?" and "I waited too long to listen to my wife again. She's been asking me to adjust the crib for two days now."

I need to keep these things in mind when I think my kids need to develop better listening skills.