Dessert

In Family Meeting this week, Toby presented his problem about having two desserts every day. I asked a few questions to try to get more into the meat of the issue, and we reviewed the Responsibilities that earn dessert (with the avoidance of Screamfests included). We each proposed a solution, and Toby chose his own, which was that if he loses a dessert then he can have three the following day. Hm. Well, Dan agreed to try it and I didn't want to be the bad guy. I couldn't think it out quick enough to have a genuine-sounding reason to reject it, so I agreed also. After the meeting Dan asked me how this is going to work, he loses a dessert basically as a punishment but then just gets it later? My attitude is, first of all, this is a learning process, so let's see what happens. Maybe there won't be any screamfests. Maybe he'll forget the next day. Anyway, it's the same cumulative amount of junk food, it's not like he's getting extra. But I suspect that simply giving him control of the situation will diffuse so much of the strife. That since we agreed to his solution, he feels positive, and loses interest in festing. Hazel, pretty cute - her solution was for him to eat his dessert in a different room (the different room concept relates to the previous solution for coping with loud crying).