Parenting dilemmas: the case of the broken bar
7th Sep 2005, 18:41 GMT
Trader Joe’s sells cereal bars they called “This Blueberry Walked Into a Bar…” Anyway, we call them “bars” around our house and go through a few boxes a week. There was only one left in the cabinet, and at 8:35 this morning, my three-year-old asked me to open it for him. I opened the package to find the bar a little broken. Wailing ensued. “I want a NEW one!” he cried. “I don’t want to EAT a BROKEN bar!” Cut to 25 minutes later. We’d discussed nothing other than the broken bar for the entire time. I’d taken my firm-but-compassionate approach, leading into my lost-patience approach, then back to FBC, then finally to I’m done talking about this. Even though I would have dearly loved to stop the sobbing - which really seemed heartfelt - by buying him a new box of bars, I had decided that it just wasn’t a good idea (not only because I wasn’t going to wake his baby brother up to walk to the store, and also because I’ve recently cracked down on our out-of-control grocery budget). I was all ready to beg your advice: should I stand my ground no matter how much screaming and crying ensued? What battles are really worth fighting? And then, five minutes ago, he told me calmly, “I’m just going to eat my broken bar now.” And he ate it, calmly. I suppose it was my last ditch effort - the change the subject to your favorite TV show approach - that did it. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments © 2005 Weblogs, Inc.
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