3 year-old Love and Logic

So, we're taking a Love and Logic class. For those of you who may not know what that is, it's basically a class to teach parents how to manipulate their children, strangers, and each other. It's great. No, really. It's great. I highly recommend it.

Anyway, one of the principles we've learned is that we need to give our kids more control over their own lives. We are taught to make everything (within reason) a choice for the kids. Ex: Would you like to get dressed first or eat breakfast first? Would you like to put your jammies on and then brush your teeth or brush your teeth first? So, one of the suggested ways to get a kid to clean his/her room is to say, "Would you like to clean your room yourself or hire someone else to do it for, say, $10 an hour?" Of course, the kid is going to say, "But I don't HAVE that much money!" So they clean their room.

Hmph. Last night I was giving all the choices I could think of to each of the 3 smaller kids. Jammies or clean up first? Snack now or later?, etc. Honor was not cooperating with this method as she was completely distracted by her new school book. She didn't want to clean! So, I finally said, "Do you want to go to bed now or clean now?" She furrowed her little brow and mustered the most adorable I'm-really-considering-my-options look and said, "Hmmmmm....how 'bout YOU clean and I'll give you money?"

Touché. They must have a Love and Logic for 3 year-olds.