Walking Right Into It

The scene unfolds over dinner...

The Boy: Can I have some chips?

BrooklynGirl: Some what?

The Boy: Some chips.

BrooklynGirl: No, no--we don't have chips.*  Chips are a treat, not dinner.

BrooklynGirl continues spooning pureed carrots into The Girl's mouth when she notices The Boy's not eating.

BrooklynGirl (exasperated): What's the matter?

The Boy: I'm sad.

BrooklynGirl: Why are you sad?

The Boy: I'm just sad.

BrooklynGirl: I'm sorry.  Is there anything that would make you less sad?

The Boy: Chips might make me feel better.

*We have plenty of other junk; chips are just not my junk food of choice.

Comments

[Heather]

Very funny.

Don't they just take you by surprise when they are so clever?

[Suz]

You know what? They make me feel better, too. Chips. And chocolate, of course.

[Erin]

Clever boy you're raising there!

[Summer]

Ah, the joys of raising a smart kid. To possess advanced manipulation skills at such a young age is definitely a sign of intelligence.

[Slim]

Now I want chips (ah, salty goodness!). I have no chips. I am sad.
I'm thinking the Boy may be to clever for your own good.

[AmyinMotown]

Hee hee. Here's mine.

My parents are over for dinner, and Maggie is running around asking to "watch Elmo" (aka TV). I tell her no, because her grandparents are here and she should play with them. She disagrees, vehemently. A few minutes later she's running around playing and I notice she seems to be holding her girl parts. "Maggie," I ask, "do you need to sit on the potty?"

Turns around, eyes lit up, big smile, "YEAH!!"

And then i suddenly realized what we let her do while she sits on the potty. Yep. TV.

[Sarah]

hehehehe.

[Paz]

Ha, that's funny. Chips are my junk food of choice and I am sad when I can't have them, but wait this isn't about me:) Although my son is just 1, I am reading a great book – an oldie but goodie to be sure - How to Talk so Your Kids will Listen, and Listen so Your Kids will Talk. It presents some good ideas about conversations like that. The premise is that children's emotions are always discounted by adults. "You can't be tired, you just had a long nap," "How can you be hungry, you just finished a big lunch," "You can walk to the end of the street, you do it all the time." Not that you did that, but the rest of their technique is particularly useful for those times when kids seem, well, irrational to us.

btw: We tried CIO for the second time and again! he turned out to be sick. He was even hospitalized and I am thinkin' ain't it bad enough that the guilt of trying CIO will make us sick, does it have to be made far worse with him turning out to truly be sick each time? damn.