(Image credit: drubig-photo)
We have our morning routine pretty much down. A little breakfast, a little toothbrushing, and we're generally out the door on time.
Except this morning my oldest (who is 4) shoved his cereal bowl to the side, nonchalantly announcing that he had decided he wasn't going to school.
*Insert momentary feeling of panic accompanied by immediate increase in blood pressure*
Now I had to figure out how the heck I was going to get him out the door without inciting World War Three.
I decided to play it cool.
"Oh yeah bud? No school today?"
He took my cool and raised it.
"Yeah mom. I think I got a bit of a cough. I'm gonna stay here and play with you today. That's a great idea, right? Let's make an agreement."
He wasn't playin'.
I could tell I was going to need to muster some serious mojo to get him to go willingly.
It was time for the big guns.
My secret weapon?
Humour.
Yep. Pretty much the very last thing I feel like doing when I'm annoyed or frustrated, but I'm telling you it works like a charm. Nothing gets kids moving like silly voices, physical humour or incredibly terrible singing.
"Well I don't know what to do because I have VERY strict orders from Lord Business that I MUST get the MASTER BUILDER to preschool on time today. He has an INCREDIBLY important assignment."
I could see him starting to crumble. Looking out the corner of his eye, I saw a little twinkle and I knew I had him.
"That's IT! You've given me no choice but to take you by FORCE!" in the most grumbly/funny/ridiculous evil-mastermind-in-training voice I could muster.
And it was game over.
Bundling him up into my arms, I scooped him off the couch, racing up the stairs like a crazy lunatic, carrying out our morning routine while pretending we were saving the world.
That's the thing with humour -- it has this magical ability to lighten the mood immediately. Changing a boring old parenting request into an invitation to play, we'd salvaged the morning and had a ball in the process.
In the end, the Master Builder made it to preschool on time and evil Lord Business' plan of destruction was averted.
I'd won him over and he didn't even know what hit him.
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Kelly Bourne creates digital parenting resources for moms and dads looking to thrive. For more information on her current course offerings, visit her website.
This post was originally published on kellybourne.ca
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