No Going Back

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arents love their kids so much that it’s often hard to deal with their youngster’s feeling of sadness or disappointment. This is particularly true when the parent him or herself is causing those feelings.

“My nine-year-old daughter never makes her bed. I told her last Wednesday that if I saw she left her bed unmade in the morning, I’d remove the cookies from her lunch bag the next day. I figured this would be a good consequence. She has such a sweet tooth, if neglecting to make her bed was going to cost her a treat, it would motivate her to make it in the future.

Of course, the next day, I saw her bed was unmade. When she got home, I  told her there would be no cookies in tomorrow’s lunch. She broke into sobs and offered to clean the whole house if only I’d let her have those cookies.

“I felt so bad for her! I told her that if she cleaned the bathroom, I’d let her have the cookies. She worked on it for an hour, and I figured I’d done a great job of educating her, ’til my friend told me I’d messed up by going back on my word. Was she right?”