Daddy in Charge (Take 2)

The kids and I survived another weekend without Jaime, who was in Reno this weekend for her Grandma Kerr's 90th birthday celebration. I hope I'm going as strong as Grandma Kerr when I hit 90. Heck, I wouldn't mind having her golf game right now (which probably tells you something about both my game and hers).

This time was much simpler than the last time I tried this, which you may remember was less than successful. The difference was that, in the six months since my last weekend debacle, I have learned the secret to successful parenting. I may even write a book about the topic. The secret, which seems at once both simple and profound: bribery.

Trouble getting the kids to take their naps? Bribe them with something fun to do when they wake up. Kids won't eat their dinner? Bribe them with dessert. Kids won't listen to what you're asking them to do? Bribe them with injury avoidance (some call this last one a "threat" but I think I'm just more creative than those people).

Both Kate and Davis have been Mommy's Little Klingons since our Costa Rica trip (and by Klingon, I mean they cling on to her whenever I'm trying to get them to do anything with me). I was rather nervous for this weekend, assuming that I'd get hours of "But I want MOMMY to put me to bed!" from Kate and repeated cries of "MAAA-MAAAA . . . MAAAAA-MAAAAA . . . !" from Davis. But I started the bribery the night before Jaime left by telling Kate that, if she was a good girl the next morning, I'd take her to the doughnut shop after breakfast. Pink icing and sprinkles were never such a good friend to me. Promising a trip to the "train mall" got her to take her afternoon nap, so after naps we headed to the outdoor mall to ride on the mechanical train. Later, some behavioral problems quickly disappeared when I offered up Hotdog on a Stick (which, admittedly, was my own first choice for dinner). I dealt with the post-dinner whining by pulling the kids into a photo booth for some pics with dear old Dad, and Kate's bath that night went smoothly when I offered to let her stay up a bit later and watch football with me.

I'm sure this plan will backfire in a few years when the cost of the bribes starts to skyrocket, but who wants to think that far down the road?

One thing for which I count myself lucky is that my kids love watching sports on TV. Davis's favorite to watch is football - when he sees a game on a TV, he makes a beeline for it (we could barely pull him away from the bar in Famous Dave's BBQ restaurant the other night - he saw a college game on the big screen and was much more interested in the game than in his chicken dinner. When we went to the park yesterday morning, he just wanted to watch the guys playing soccer.

This kid is fascinated by anything with a ball

Davis has always had a strong arm, but his aim is getting better, too. Today in church he threw a Stretch Armstrong toy several pews forward and nailed a guy right in the back of the head. I probably looked embarrassed as I apologized, but secretly I was impressed.

I guess its time to do the evaluation of his strengths and weaknesses and get him in an Olympic development and training program. Kate was already well into her strength and conditioning program at this age.