So who won?

This will be a short one, probably because I already know the answer but don’t want to jump to any conclusions. Especially those conclusions that don’t suit my purposes.

Tonight after dinner my two year old daughter, Anna, wanted strawberry milk. My wife and I have decided to cut back on the gallons of artificially flavored milk that the kids drink, so we are reserving the special milk as a sometimes drink. My four year old son, Nathaniel, gets this and he can be reasoned with – most of the time. Anna doesn’t get it, or is too much like her father and doesn’t want to get it. Either way, she will stand in front of the fridge and shriek, whine and point with this face that would melt my heart if only I didn’t know that all this consternation was an act to get what she wants.

The simple fact of life and soon to be title of my blog is, “you get what you pay for.” And since whining, shrieking and pouty faces aren’t assets that we wish to accrue, we’ve taken the approach of rewarding our children for the positive behavior and of not negotiating with terrorists. i.e. When they whine or throw temper tantrums they do NOT get what they want. The only way to get what they want is to act appropriately, ask politely and accept “no” with a happy heart. We are still waiting and working on that last item, will let you know when we get there.

So tonight, Anna wanted strawberry milk. I was already pouring myself a sometimes drink (that I drink all the time – Pepsi – yes, I’m a hypocrite) so I knew by her pointing what she wanted and since I didn’t want to hear the shrieking, pouting and whining I quickly grabbed the strawberry syrup, opened her sippy cup and put in about two droplets full.

Now who won? Does she realize that I short changed her? That the two drops amount to a mere placebo? Does she know that I pulled a fast one over on her? Will the realization that Daddy is smarter than her (for now at least) make her reconsider the folly of her ways?

I hope so. Unfortunately, there’s this thing in the back of my head telling me that I’m delusional (and this time more than usual).

I guess we’ll know who won, when she’s a teenager and I’m completely bald… which brings up another interesting question: if (hypothetically speaking) she won this battle did she really win in the long run?