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January 11, 2004

Spoil Your Dinner

Harrison is discovering the strength of his will. Tonight as I served up spaghetti, I found him watching Dexter's Lab and said it was time to eat. What followed was a pleasantly calm, but intractable disagreement about whether he should come eat or watch TV. Finally I demanded (Method 1 conflict resolution) that he get to the table, and followed with a count to 3. I know, I shouldn't do the counting thing, but I did anyway. I got to 3, and he just sat there looking at me ever so calmly with an expression that said he was ready for whatever came next. So I picked him up, took him to his room and told him he was going to stay there with no TV or food until he was ready to come to the table under his own power, or until we were finished eating--whichever came first.

I went back and checked on him every 5 minutes to see if he was ready to come sit down with us, because of course it really worries me when my kids help contribute to the fact that 1 in 4 children in America go to bed hungry every night. But he just sat there on the floor listlessly playing with a couple toys and said he just wanted to watch TV. No Gisellian screaming and tantruming, just calm, hunger-strike, Ghandiesque resistance. I think it was the 3rd time I went to check on him that he told me "I give you coins if you let me come out."..."You'll what?"..."I give you coins--you like coins....can I come out?" I was at a complete loss. Come to think of it, I do like coins...but this wasn't the time or place to start taking bribes. From my kids. So I gave him a hug and told him the conditions for release again.

Finally after we were almost done, he decided he would join us. I think he downed 3 bites before Giselle enacted the knock-knock jokes and other boisterous table games. And that was it. There wasn't going to be any more eating by any more kids tonight. So I bid them off as they tickle-tortured each other up and down the house and went to play trampoline on Amanda. Sometime before dinner, his sister helped him get into the peanut butter and goldfish crackers again, I just know it. How they kept it clean is a mystery to me, but I guess it means he didn't go to bed hungry.

Posted by Jeremy at January 11, 2004 10:28 PM