at our house, nature is winning.
boy #1:
clyde (standing in rubber boots in the garden): dad, can you open the gate so i can dump out these weeds?
ed: you’re weeding the garden?
clyde: yep.
boy #2:
me: say you’re sorry for saying “shut up” to your brother.
leo: noooooo.
me: say it.
leo: nooooo!
me: then you’re not going to get ice cream. earlier, you didn’t get a ring pop. now you will get no ice cream. say you’re sorry.
leo: nooooo!
me: no ice cream then. we will all be eating ice cream. you’ll get nothing. all you have to do is say sorry.
leo: nooooo!
me: my sweet stubborn child, this is precisely what leads people to prison.
My second daughter Genevieve (age 2-3/4) is EXACTLY THE SAME WAY. I have had pretty much that exact same conversation with her many, many times.
good LORD but that sounds like MY Leo….