Leading and following in the museum

This week I took Elisabeth and a friend to an art museum. They were both excited to be together, and alternately had difficulty maintaining museum decorum. So I took one in each hand, and we walked through the galleries together talking about what we observed.

On several occasions I had to stop, look both of them in the eye and explain that we would run and play outside on the playground afterward, but that inside we needed to walk instead of running, jumping or galloping. On more than one occasion, Elisabeth and her friend blamed the behavior on the other by saying that each was only mimicking the other. So I had the occasion to encourage each to set an example for the other to follow. Then imitation would be obedience, and not chaos.

It was striking to me how powerful an influence each had over the other - and the influence I had to say, "Then you need to do the right thing so that ____ will want to do the right thing like you." Instead of peer-imitation being detrimental, it started to be positive as each was trying to reform the other by example!