Here’s one of the most impressive, hilarious parenting moves I’ve ever heard of in my life:
A mother I know, whose children are truly amazing humans, told her children that when the ice cream truck is playing music, it means they’re all out of ice cream.
She allowed this lie to persist for years.
I’m clearly not as opposed to ice cream or ice cream trucks as this parent, so this wouldn’t be something I would do. However, the moxie, the ingenuity, the hilarity, and the ability to say no to her children are so impressive.
As a teacher of 26 years and a parent for nearly two decades, I can confidently assert that it’s a parent’s inability to say no to their children that is most damaging to kids.
It’s not easy, of course, but as Matthew Dicks once said in a novel, “The hard thing and ther right thing are often the same thing.”
Saying no to ice cream in such a clever way — deflecting constant questions and persistent pleas via lies and subterfuge — is so impressive.
