I have discovered my kryptonite, and its name is Thomas. My son has recently learned how to say “daddy.” What’s more, he’s learned that he can get whatever he wants with this new magic word. To properly wield this new-found power, he puts on his most pitiful little face, longingly stretches out his tiny arms toward me and pleads, “daaaaaaaddyyyyyyyy.” By the time he finishes his drawn-out pronoun all my powers of authority have been completely drained and I’m nothing but a mere puppet in the hands of a toddler.
It’s not fair, not fair at all, because I hold no such power over him. The word, “no” now means nothing to him; I might as well be making farting noises with my armpit, they both yield the same response. The response is a dumbfounded look of “what the heck are you doing?” There are a few phrases that still mean something to him, however. For example the phrase, “Do you want a cookie?” will get him to stop whatever he’s doing and run over to me. If Thomas were running full speed toward a cliff it would be the only way to get him to stop would be to offer some sweet-tasting reward for turning around and coming back to me. Yelling, “no!” would probably only strengthen his resolve and make him run faster.
A large part of raising a toddler, I’ve found, is figuring out what works with your child and what doesn’t. I’ll let you know when I’ve found out what works with Thomas.
