Monday, September 20, 2010

Why I believe in bribing....


In my line of work, I have been sent on training to have the notion of bribing=bad drilled through my head. I have had to sit through hours of CPAC hearings with toothpicks propping my eyes open so I understand the evils of bribing a-la Clockwork Orange (kidding, but good visual, right?)

Just because in my professional life I don't do bribery, it doesn't mean I can't participate in my personal life .

Enter one sleep deprived Meanie and her cranky husband Mr. Meanie. Since mid-summer we have been suffering the late night calls of Grace, scared of shadows, scared of ghosts, scared of dust particles and scared of air molecules. I won't bore you more details, if really interested, just read down, I think it has been the subject matter of every second blog post.

Enter one tooth challenged Edie. She has lost two baby teeth now and a big one is growing in. And, at the mature age of 5, she is Queen of the Soothers, still taking one at bed time to fall asleep.

Severely sleep deprived, and with the fear of having a snaggle toothed daughter with expensive dental bills, we decided to put an end to some of the insanity in our household. Did we do this by talking calmly, lovingly and reassuringly to our charges? Nay. Did we do this with charts and statistics supporting our arguments for this nonsense to cease and desist? Nope.

All it took was a trip to our neighbours. Grace's dear little friend has recently acquired a Beta fish. The girls covet this fish. They want it. So. Bad. See where this is going? It's this easy folks. You want a Beta fish girls? Give me seven nights. Seven nights of no waking us up. Seven nights of no soothers. You eff up and we go back to square one, start all over again.

Heh heh. We're going to Billings Bridge tonight to get Grace's fish. Edie has three days left for her reward. I feel remarkably rested and so okay with my bribing ways.

I should write a book.

5 comments:

Nat said...

Fishes... oh my! Sounds like a good plan, in fact I wish I'd thought of it.

For the night terrors, not sure how savvy your kids are. But with a younger Nick a spray bottle with lemony smelling water was labeled monster repellent. It worked wonders. You squirt it around the room, then the bottle is left by the night side table lest which child can use to squirt away any pesky remaining critters.

alison said...

Hey, glad it's working! I've told my girls that I'll repaint their bedrooms when they keep them clean for one month -- I don't forsee any painting on the horizon any time soon. Sigh.

Greedie said...

@Nat - I believe the girls actually rolled their eyes at me when I suggested the spray a few months ago
@Alison - yeah, the tidy room is a bigger battle indeed.

Anonymous said...

hummm... bribery sounds good... My 5 yr old also has a soother at night still and I swore that she would not have that "thing" as i call it, after 3ish... welllll... Everytime i mention getting rid of it.. she freaks .. i wasnt sure what to do.. thanks!

Mindful Merchant said...

Whatever it takes, I say. :) Enjoy the fish. My daughter's beta is almost THREE years old. That is some crazy fish longevity. Laura