What Would Mom Do?

My 21-year-old son just got a part-time job doing before school childcare. He is responsible for waking up two elementary school aged boys, feeding them breakfast, and getting them on the school bus. He came home the first couple of days shaking his head. “I have to say everything in triplicate!” I am not very sympathetic. In fact, I think my response is tinged with a bit of shadenfreude. He is caring for two boys who are in first and third grade. I remember those days. But when I had two boys that age I also had a pre-school daughter and another infant son. Only having to say something three times sounds pretty efficient to me.

This morning he came home feeling somewhat jubilant. He is making inroads in the child management process. He recounted this morning’s breakfast scene:

I made toaster waffles for breakfast as their mother had instructed. The youngest whined, “I don’t want to eat waffles again”. I told him to eat them. He said, “No!” I told him to eat them again. He said, “No!” again.

Seeing that this was not going to get us anywhere, I thought, ”What would Mom do?” So I told him, “Eat half the waffle”. He did. Then I told him to eat one more bite. He did. Then I told him, “Look. You only have two more bites left. Just eat those.” He did! He ate the whole waffle.

He then looked at me and said, “You manipulated us like that didn’t you?”

Who me?! I just smiled. No need to give out all the secrets at once.