- 11/2/2009 10:18:13 PMPre-Following
Pre-following is what you do when you want to follow someone around and do what they do, but you don't want them to know that you're following or copying them. The basic tactic is to attempt to determine what a person is going to do next and then do it before they do. That way, when they get around to engaging in their intended activity, they will find that you are already there doing it and thus, you cannot be accused of copying or following.
Here is an example, let's say all the kids are in the house and one of them is contemplating pre-follow. One of the other children tells Mom that their bored or they are showing signs of boredom. Mom tells this one particular child, "why don't you go outside and play? You can even pick up all the toys you left outside from yesterday and put them away.?
The ability to successfully executing a pre-follow is first to have a successful eavesdrop. In order to know what is coming next, one would have to be paying close attention to everything that is going on in the house. This includes the contents of all conversations, the whereabouts of everyone in the house, as well as the activities that everyone is engaged in. In layman's terms, this is called being nosy. I also think it is a symptom of Attention Deficit Disorder.
Once the eavesdrop has revealed "the plan", the pre-following child will put their coat on and immediately go outside to where the toys were left from yesterday's activities. They may even begin to assemble the toys into a common location for ease of "putting them away" later. Seldom will they ever actually put them away. A subtle aspect of this is to "appear" as though your in the process of putting them away but the intent is never there. What is actually happening is that the pre-following child is waiting for the other children to come outside.
There is one drawback to pre-following - a change in plans. Sometimes, the ADD-pre-following child jumps the gun a little too soon and hastily executes their plan only to discover that they are alone in the location where they had anticipated being with others. Upon further analysis, it is revealed that they confused conversations, or only listened to half or less of a conversation, or the "plan" as they perceived it was actually only a "suggestion" and it never materialized, or that the pre-follower's activities were discovered and the other parties involved decided to do the exact opposite because they don't want to be followed or pre-followed.
If we were talking about psychopathic adults, this activity might be called "stalking". It is something that our adopted son Michael frequently engages in and because he believes that he is a "master tricker" (his own words), no one is on to his crafty plan.
