The Manager wasn’t pleased with his dinner tonight, and managed to find ways to waste time during mealtime tonight. He was still at the table with his chicken and green beans untouched after everyone else had finished and said, “Do I HAVE to eat this???” My first answer was a cheerful, “Yup. You have to eat it all gone.”
He sighed, and asked again, “Do I have to?”
A Love and Logic strategy popped into my head, so I said, “Okay, you can be all done.” My evil plan was to wrap up the food and offer it again at snack time (affectionately known as ‘bednight snack’ here at Earnest Parenting).
I didn’t think I gave any kind of noticeable cue, but for some reason my change of heart caused him to rethink his choices and he announced that he’d be eating his food forthwith.
Curses. Foiled again.
Heh, heh heh.
Earnest Parenting: help for parents who want to use Love and Logic.
My kids definitely caught onto all the Love & Logic techniques. Whenever I would slip up and do something like yell at them, they would remind me “Mom, that’s not Love and Logic!”.
Kathy: Lol. That’s hilarious! I really like your site, by the way.