1. At dinner time...
Me: "Boy #2, please come back down and sit at the table. Otherwise you will have to go straight to bed."
Boy #2. "That's. Not. Fair! Reeeeeeeeeally?"
Me (that's got him): "Yes, really."
Boy #2, big grin on face: "OK then." And bustles into his bedroom, climbs under the duvet, and shuts his eyes...
2. At bath time...
Me: "Come on, Boy #1, for the third time. Please get out of the bath."
Boy #1: "Why?"
Me: "Because it's a school night, you're tired, I'm tired, and.... if you don't get out now your skin will go all wrinkly, and you'll turn into a raisin."
Boy #1: "Really?"
Me: "Oh, yes."
Boy #1: "Actually then, I think I will stay here and see how long it takes..."
At Bedtime
Me (thinking, gosh, doesn't my oldest son look angelic. What can he be thinking about...? World Peace? How to save the polar ice caps? Some new mathematical equation to turn water into fuel?): "Boy #1, what are you thinking about?"
Boy #1: "Chocolate."
Well, of course. And I'll say it for you; like mother, like son.
We live and learn Potty Mummy, we live and learn!
ReplyDeleteI've done the 'you'll go straight to bed' with my feral little girl and she's replied 'I will but I have a dirty bottom so it will go all over my clean sheets'!
Oh dear! I keep warning hubby that he can't say 'You'll just go to bed without any dinner, then!' instead of persuading R in some way to actually eat her dinner. She will just say 'OK, then.' and wake up hungry at 2am!
ReplyDeleteIt goes to show you that you can never make little kids do anything by threatening them with some action, because they will call you on it and then you bear the consequences. It's best to just be mean and unreasonable and make them do things because you said so. Mom rules!
ReplyDeleteThat also means that Mom is the boss of the chocolate and decides how much of it to eat herself and whether or not she is going to share any of it or eat it all by herself.
Don't ever try to make sense to a kid, they'll try to outsmart you anyway. Put more effort into being almighty and forever powerful until they get bigger than you are and can wrestle you to the floor.
I think The finely tuned woman has just about said it all! I would only add 'never threaten or promise what you can't or won't deliver'.
ReplyDeleteMight have been worth letting Boy #1 stay in the bath until he turned into a raisin as I bet the rapidly cooling water and boredom would have driven him out fairly quickly. You do know that boys can only turn into raisins if it's dark and there are no toys in the bath...?
You, and your boys, always make me giggle. Tee hee hee.
ReplyDeleteI wish someone would order me straight to bed this morning - sounds hugely appealing right now!
ReplyDeleteI hate it when they get that clever...hence I try to remember the mantra "Never threaten what you can't go through with" hence the reason why I am always stopping the car and standing with my sons at the side of the road - you know the threat: If you don't behave you're out of the car!
ReplyDeleteWhy do I always forget and use that one???!!!
I am always going wrong on this. Earlier: "Well, if you're not getting in the car, you'll have to stay at home by yourself."
ReplyDeleteLittleboy 1: OK then.
I shut the door, and wait for the usual howl. It doesn't come. I go back in. He is sitting there, happily watching Balamory...
Have 'photo tagged' you over at mine...
Y'all have to perfect the counting thing. My teenagers still do what they're told when I start couting. (And I never go further than 3). They get a bit mad at me when I do it in front of their friends, but they also know that "the thing" will happen under their steam or mine. The choice is theirs!
ReplyDeleteI have said to my son, as we are leaving the sitters, "Fine. I'll leave you here then." And he says: "Bye-bye, mama!" and waves while going back into the play room.
ReplyDeleteYeah, sometimes it doesn't work does it?
I hate bath time because first they argue about getting in, and then they argue about getting out.
ReplyDeleteI am new to your blog - but really like it and would like to add it to my blog roll if that is OK?
Kelly
Oh how familiar.. do you find that with the first one you totally follow through on threats whereas with your second you simply can't be assed?
ReplyDeleteBM x
I'm with Finely Tuned Woman, she seems to have it sorted. If I were you I'd be relieved he wasn't thinking about pulling the legs off spiders...I would advise you to keep your choc stash under lock and key, and keep a keen eye on him at the supermarket tills where temptation is rife.
ReplyDeleteMya x
Checking emails?
ReplyDeleteYou've been tagged! http://tinyurl.com/coz455