Of the folly of bribery

[velvetpage]

As with most parents, I occasionally find myself bribing my child to finish her dinner.

"If you eat two more bites, you can have some ice cream for dessert." I repeated this in both official languages for clarity, but she still seemed unimpressed, continuing to play with the toy she'd brought to the table.

Since ice cream wasn't working, I tried something else. "You can have fruit if you finish this," I offered.

This time she perked up. She ate that offered forkful, and another, then pushed herself away from the table and went to the back room to await the promised fruit. I dished it out, the new canned fruit in a plastic screw-top jar instead of the old tins, congratulating myself all the while on raising a daughter who preferred fruit, even canned, to ice cream. For good measure, I got some for myself too, gleefully counting my meals that day and realizing that this bowl made for my sixth serving of fruits-and-veggies.

Just as I was rinsing my own bowl and opening the dishwasher to empty it, my congratulatory musings were crushed horribly under the weight of my 31-pound preschooler. She marched out to the kitchen, deposited bowl and spoon in the sink with a plastic clatter, and said, "Can I have my ice cream now?"

I told her it had been one or the other, fruit or ice cream, and she'd chosen fruit. She tried apologizing, because she knows saying sorry will sometimes result in getting something I've denied her. I just told her that she had nothing to be sorry for, but she didn't need two desserts and she'd already had one, so she still couldn't have ice cream. She sighed mightily and offered to help me empty the dishwasher, knowing that asking again was an exercise in futility.

The downside to this approach, of course, is that it means I'd be a hypocrite if I had the ice cream I'd been planning for myself.

I haven't figured out yet if I've won this round.

Comments

[ymf.livejournal.com]

She relented, that's a good thing! heh.

Is fresh fruit expensive? Mehtinks the syrup is a lot more sinful than ice-cream!

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

I buy the sugar-free or almost sugar-free stuff, so it's not bad. Also, it's a mistake to discount nutrients because the calories are higher. Nutrients are important, but there are better ways to get them than in high-calorie foods; still, if the high-calorie, nutrient-rich food is one she'll allow as a bribe, it's better than the nearly-nutrient-free ice cream, even if the sugar content were higher.

Fresh fruit isn't that expensive - but finding a way to store it so it doesn't rot between grocery shopping trips can be a pain. I always buy some, but we supplement with other stuff.

[ymf.livejournal.com]

Hmm I get your point, but you mean there's almost sugar-free syrup? Heh maybe you can try dripping honey over fresh-cut fruits too. d=

[r-caton.livejournal.com]

You still have the uneaten ice cream...
Have it later when she has gone to bed....
YOU WIN.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

She and I go to bed at the same time these days - but i certainly could have. :)