Saturday, June 06, 2009

My Little Negotiator

Jarrah really digs mac and cheese. I mean like, last-meal-on-earth kind of digs. So today when she noticed that Kraft makes both Spiderman and Spongebob versions, she was all over it. I ended up buying them both. I don't usually give in to the marketing ploys, but in this case I figured I'd be buying the stuff anyway...just in a different form. That's my defense and I'm sticking to it.

Then she asked me to make her some as a "snack" when we got home from the store. I demurred, since it was going to be dinner time in two hours. She asked if she could have mac and cheese after dinner. "Sure," I said. "You can have mac and cheese if you eat every bite of your spaghetti and meatballs first." I figured I was safe there.

So, we're eating dinner, and she's picked out the meatballs and left a whole mess of pasta just sitting there. "I can't eat this!" she whined.

"No whining. What you really meant to say is: 'Mommy. Daddy. I have finished my dinner and would like to be excused.'"

"Mommy. Daddy. I have finished my dinner and...hey, I want my mac and cheese now." David cracked up.

"I said if you finished your spaghetti. You clearly have not."

"But..."

"Let me see if I understand you. You are suggesting that I THROW AWAY PERFECTLY GOOD FOOD so that I can make you some other food. Is that correct?"

"Yes," she said, prompt and agreeable.

"Let me ask you again. You would like me to THROW GOOD FOOD INTO THE GARBAGE so I can cook you some other food. Yes?"

"Yes. Just not my Twirlies."

"WHAT?" I countered, trying to get my bearings. Apparently, she thought we were just putting a reasonable plan in place.

"Not my Twirlies. But you can throw away a bunch of food that I don't like. And then I'll have mac and cheese."

Clearly, I am outwitted and outplayed here. Can I get arbitration, please?

4 comments:

Myrnie said...

Hehe...I got nothin'. My daughter was in tears because I wouldn't give her milk in a saucer for lunch, no matter how piteously she meowed and blinked her enormous blue eyes...we're mean mamas!

LunaMoonbeam said...

BWAHAHAHAH. I'm trying to picture E meowing and asking for milk in a saucer. (Myrnie should have given in. I remember my mother letting us do that once or twice when we were kids. ;-))

erin said...

I'm still trying to get over the fact that the girls' dad takes them to McDonalds on the weekend, and that they expect me to do the same. No way hosea.
So Max tells me daily that I'm 'mean' or 'not nice' to her. All she wants are goldfish, cheezits, string cheese or wheat cheese curls. Oh yeah! I forgot about the best one: plain hot dog buns...

Samantha said...

@Erin: That "mean" and "not nice" thing caught my eye because we have had so much of that recently! Yesterday I was "not nice" because I wouldn't get her something when we passed an ice cream truck...even though she had just finished a whipped-cream covered milkshake the size of a Big Gulp.