Oliver is getting wise as to the ways of Wearing Your Parent Down. And holy crap, is he ever getting good at it…
He: Can we buy Fruit Loops?
Me: No.
He: Why not?
Me: Because it’s an expensive box of food colouring and sugar, and I don’t have money for that. Have a cookie instead.
He: Well, can we have Lucky Charms then?
Me: No.
He: Why?!
Me: Tsk. C’mon, man…
He: But, the cereal part is just cereal! And the sugar parts are just teeny tiny marshmallows… there’s hardly any sugar in those parts.
Martin: Pfft. I’ll buy you one box, and not another one again for a year.
He: *incredulously* A year?!
(For the record, I don’t have any aversions to sugar, really – it’s the very idea of spending seven dollars on that kind of junky stuff that kills me.)
Me: Oliver, you don’t even like cereal that much.
He: *flatly* Yes, I do.
Me: *cocks eyebrow* You won’t eat it with milk though…
He: *thinks* Well, I’d still eat all of it. Why does it matter if I have it with milk or not?
Me: *thinks* Um… (crap!) *thinks* So, you want to eat it out of the box while you watch tv, is that it?
He: Well, I’d put it in a little ramekin.
Martin: How about this – we can buy some the next time we’re on vacation… like, the “special foods” we get sometimes… Doritos, Coke, all that stuff… and you can have it then. On vacation.
Me: And since you won’t likely finish the box in one weekend, how about when we get back, if you finish the box at home *raises eyebrows and points carefully at him* WITH MILK, then I might consider buying another box of the stuff before the year is out. Deal?
He: *thinks* Okay, deal.
Me: Okay then.
He didn’t whine, or stamp his feet, or cry about it – he knows better than that, of course. But if he can be this reasonable and apply this kind of rationale to an argument, then I could at least consider his wishes carefully, I reckon. Le sigh. This is going to get trickier as we go along, I’ll bet.
He: Um, can it be vacation this weekend? *eyebrows high and hopeful*
Me: Oliver!
He: Well, the weekend is no school… that’s like a vacation, right?
Me: You are pushing.
He: Okay, okay… *smiles, pleased with himself*
Smug, persuasive bugger.
He’s going to make a great lawyer some day.
Have your kids discovered the art of wearing you down yet? Do you give in?!
(Photo credit: Conteska Photography)
Oh Anny, I KNOW!! What is WITH the foods that aren’t even foods?! It’s awful. I don’t count calories, and I don’t care butter or oil in regular cooking, you know? We don’t eat a lot of prepared foods either, but I do find I give in to things now and then, like the peelable cheese – that’s only because they’d eat them in other homes or for snacks in other places, and then stopped eating the cubes I’d send to school. I LOATHE tossing stuff out, of course… so finally I gave in and bought that kind. I hate the extra packaging (and it’s a bit more expensive) but at least they eat them. No snack-packs though – too wasteful.
And you know I’m not much of a baker, so yes, we buy cookies – usually one kind at a time. You’re so awesome to have cookies and pies and things – they’re lucky if there’s any ice cream to go with berries after dinner.
We hide the Cadbury chocolates and things… the chips are on top of the fridge, so they hardly even notice them up there. SNEAKY!! xox
They really are SO smart, yo.
And a ramekin is just a little white baking cup (think soufle dish) but they come in a range of different sizes… I bought a slew of them for making individual chicken pot pies for a party once, and they’ve become tres handy as snack containers for the Littles. 😉
Sinead, you gorgeous thing… Book?! I suppose a good start would be actually writing one… le sigh. I live my life between interruptions, you know? Ack. (Thanks for the vote of confidence though!!)
What the frig is a ramekin???? Yes – negotiating is all over our place – these kids are too effing smart…ugh!
Ack! This job is haaaaaaard…
Tracey, you’re awesome 🙂 And WHEN is your BOOK coming OUT??
Julian is also wise to the ways of negotiation. But he’s also wise enough to know that his mother negotiates like a muther too!!
I’m so disgusted at the food industry these days and all the fake stuff in everything and all the marketing. It makes me crazy. Can we just feed our bodies with actual food please and not a million additives and flavours? And the health food aisle is worst! Everything is weird there.
I deal with it by not buying many packaged foods and when I do I buy the most basic, simple ingredient, no health-claim stuff I can find. My measure of success is the $ of taxes I pay at the grocery store — it’s usually less than $1.50 out of $135 which makes me more excited than you know (does that make me a desperate housewife?).
The fanciest crackers that come into this house are store-brand saltines (and it’s an exciting week when we get those, lol!). The cereal is usually mini-wheats, cheerios (the cocoa one is great and turns your milk into chocolate milk!), or Life Brand (my fave). All of these come in a actual family-sized boxes and at least one of them is on sale for $4 or less in any given week! Juice is only refrigerated orange or unsweetend apple — and you have to have a glass of water first! And there are NEVER any store-bought cookies or snack paks or peelable cheese! I spend 30 minutes on grocery day chopping carrot, celery and pepper sticks, radishes, and little cubes of cheddar and stacking them in the fridge to snack on and make lunches with. I also have fresh cookies or muffins or pie for desert so I’m not all mean and cheap — and I use white flour, butter and regular sugar!
Really, it’s like I live in 1965!
I sometimes feel like I’m depriving my kids of the stuff other normal kids have, but then when we do find ourselves in a grocery store together they nag us for pistachios and gum (!) which makes me feel like I’m doing okay and that maybe they won’t fall into the chocolate/chips/Coke/Wendy’s/Dominos trap Stephen are still in — which makes me extra happy because there’s more junk for us! Well, after they are asleep of course ;0)
Hehe!
My older one is the King of negotiations..He’s 12 now. Be warned..they get better and better at wearing you down! (aka..won’t stop until you cave)
My little one? He just has to give me those puppy dog eyes. I just melt. Lucky Charms for everyone!
*looks left and right* Neither do I. But, I don’t buy it to snack out of the box, either. Ack, these kids.
omg…i don’t put MILK on my cereal! ha! sorry/… now _that_ would make for a speedy morning!
Ramekin. Heh. 😉
Do you mean you don’t put sugar on your cereal, or milk? He’s never been much of a cereal-eater… I think it always got too soggy, and he eats so slowly, everything gets all soggy, and he doesn’t finish the (tiny) bowlful. He just wants to snack on handfuls of junky cereal. ACK! There are worst problems though, I know…
and add to “other words your son says casually”… ramekin
🙂
my girls (thankfully) don’t ask for that stuff because it is too sweet! we’ll get the little “camping boxes” for when we’re camping but they won’t eat the whole thing. and, personally, i don’t put sugar on my sweet cereal when i do have it either. it turns to much and is awful! i have to side with him on that one 🙂
It can be hard to say no to that gorgeous face… so I just don’t look at him when I say it. Oy.
this guy should be in sales. He is so adorable I would be buying.