This is a happy accidental parenting trick I discovered a while ago, and Mommy and I continue to be amazed it works.
Jane likes to tell us that she is “out of walks” or whatever it is we want her to do. Most of the time, it’s that she’s out of walks when we want her to go to her room to get ready for bed, etc. One day, when she was out of walks and thus couldn’t do whatever we were telling her, I said, “Well, I happen to have some walks right here.” I held out my handful of walks to her.
She looked up at me, a little surprised, I think, and said, “Ohhhkay, thanks Dad,” in a way that suggested both gratefulness and resignation that she was going to have to cooperate now. And then, quite to my surprise, she got up and walked!
We still get the “I’m out of walks” complaint every now and then. So, we just dig around in our pockets, and pull some walks out for her. And then we’re amazed when she plays along.
The latest twist was when she was riding her horse, Moany. She said Moany was sick and thus causing her to make lots of noise. So I pulled some horse medicine out of my pocket and offered it to her.
“No, Moany needs horse medicine.”
“It is horse medicine.”
“But that’s not the right kind.”
“Oh, ok. Well, I have some other medicine in this other pocket. [dig around in pocket] Here, is this the right one?”
“Yeah. Thanks Dad.”
