My son and I had this discussion today. He was upset with me because he didn't get his way. He had just received a consequence for disobedience and he was mad. Instead of responding to his anger and just telling him no, he wasn't going to run away, I used this opportunity to teach a life lesson in critical thinking and planning. I mean, he may still want to run away but at least now he'll be prepared when/if he does, right? ;-)
"Mommy, I'm going to run away to South America and live in the rainforest." (arms crossed, brows furrowed, pursed lips, mad face)
Me- "You are? What will you do for food?"
"I'm going to eat fruit off the trees there."
Me- "Oh, ok. Well, what about on the way there? What will you eat then...and how will you get there? Walk? That will take a long time to walk the whole way. Where will you sleep?"
"Uh-huh, I'm going to walk. And I'm going to sleep on wood up off the ground with rope. And I'll just eat berries off the trees until I get there. But what if wild animals come to try and get me?"
Me- "Well, that is a danger in sleeping outside. There could be wild animals. And how will you know which berries to eat? You know some berries are poisonous and could kill you if you eat them. Do you know how to tell which ones are poisonous?"
"Really?! But I don't know which ones are poisonous. How will I find out? (sigh) I guess I'll just have to go to a pizza restaurant and order 1000 pizzas. I can eat those until I get to South America."
Me- "Hmm...how much money do you have? The cheapest pizzas I know of are $5 each which means you'd need at least $5000 for that many pizzas. Do you have $5000?"
"Well, I have some money in my piggy bank. (then realizing it has nowhere near $5000 in it) Oh, no! I'll never get to run away! Never, never, never."
I certainly hope that's true. Mission accomplished! :D
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