My wife and I have found an incredibly effective phrase to use with The Babito when he’s being uncooperative. It’s a threat that I’m not especially proud to use, and we only use it when nothing else is working.
The threat is my brother, Uncle Gary. The Babito seems to like Uncle Gary when he’s around him (which isn’t very often), but he’s also a little afraid of him. I think it has something to do with his loud, booming voice and his 250+ pounds.
So anyway (and I use this tactic WAY more than my wife), whenever we’re at our wit’s end with The Babito, we pull the Uncle Gary card.
Babito doesn’t want to get in the bath? “I’m going to have Uncle Gary come over and give you a bath.”. In the bath Babito goes.
Babito won’t eat his food? “We’ll have Uncle Gary come pick you up and take you out to dinner.” The plate is cleaned.
Babito won’t get dressed to go shopping? “I’ll have Uncle Gary come over and watch you while we go shopping.”. Babito is dressed and buckling his own car seat before we can blink an eye.
You get the idea. Luckily for us, Babito is not old enough to realize that Uncle Gary would never want to do any of these things. Once he figures that out we’ll need a new nuclear option. Until then, Uncle Gary is a great help!
What unconventional tactics have you used to get your kids to behave?
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#1 by becky on August 12th, 2009
hey whatever works!!!! we threaten with santa LOL. don’t wanna pick up your dishes? gonna text santa. oh yeah. i go there.
#2 by Daddy Dan on August 12th, 2009
Becky: We used Santa too, but it wasn’t as effective. He was kind of scared of Santa coming to our house so he didn’t mind if we told Santa not to come!
#3 by Mocha Dad on August 12th, 2009
When my daughter was younger, she would occasionally stay at our friend’s house. He had a giant stuffed bear that my daughter was terrified of. When she misbehaved, we often invoked the giant bear. Her behavior immediately improved.
Mocha Dad´s last blog ..On-Purpose Accident
#4 by Daddy Dan on August 12th, 2009
MD: Nice!
#5 by Jennifer on August 14th, 2009
My kids need an Uncle Gary. The husband often threatens to call Santa or the Easter Bunny (whichever holiday is closer) and it NEVER works.
Jennifer´s last blog ..I Never Did Ask If He Peed In the Pool