Just ten seconds ago I was reminded of a parenting "tip" I'd heard years ago which goes as follows: your kid asks for a giant ice cream cone or to go on the merry go round or whatever you don't want them to have at the moment so you say, "Yes, after dinner," or "Yes, the next time we come to the park!" So goes the wisdom: that way "your child sees you are saying 'yes' to them but you get to set the limit."

Hey guess what, this is total bullshit. Because about 0.3 seconds into your deferment even the least bright youngster realizes you are saying "no" to what they want - which is to eat the ice cream or whatever immediately. I was reminded of this stridently just now when my daughter approached me with last night's Christmas Concert DIY decorated cookie (there were concerns that last year's guest Santa had provided empty calorie candy so, um, this year there was a cookie underneath the candy? I dunno) and I said, "yes, after dinner" with predictable results.

At 6 PM tonight the children and I are off to a church to wrap presents - for other children in the area. We'll see how well they handle it.

Labels: food, holidays