Do As I Say

Not As I Do, the saying goes.

Such was the case the other evening.

We happened to have some Coke in the fridge.

Little Brother happened to see said Coke.

"Can I have some Coke?" he inquired.

"Can I have some?  I want some, too?" Big Brother and Bab-E Brother echoed.

We've done pretty well with holding off on soft drinks for the boys.

Although not long ago they got a taste of Sprite, which they liked.

And so Sprite became the "gateway drug" that got them to darker-syruped drinks, including Coke and Root Beer (Side note - Little Brother calls it Fruit Beer and Bab-E Brother calls is Root Bear, so I guess between the two of them they're batting .500).

Their absolute favorite, unsurprisingly, is the Coca-Cola Freestyle.  The cornucopia of soft drinks.

But we keep the Coke at a minimum, reserving it for an occasional treat.

Back to our story, the boys actually had a little Coke the night before, so when they asked again, we explained,

"No, we're not going to have any more Coke right now.  I know it tastes good, but it's really not good for you."

Fortunately, they accepted rejection without any significant protest.

As we were getting things together for dinner, Mom-E asked me, "What do you want to drink?"

"What do you want?" I retorted.

With "unified mind", we both answered (softly), "Coke!"

And so I snagged a Coke out of the fridge and handed it to Mom-E, who had nabbed 2 OPAQUE cups.

And while the boys were settling down at the table, Mom-E did what any reasonable parent would do - she snuck back to the other end of the house, opened the Coke, and poured our drinks.

Everyone enjoyed their meal, and fortunately our boys are too short (and they didn't climb on top of the table - this time), and so Mom-E and I drank Coke undiscovered.

Call it "Great Moments in Covert Parenting", or "Do as I say..."

Although I called it "Just plain good."

Have a good week,
Busy-Dad-E