Battle of wills

I have a very strong personality. I like things the way I want them to be. Avery has a very strong personality. She likes things the way she wants them to be. You can imagine what happens when two strong wills meet.

Lately, Avery has been in a "I don't want to eat this dinner" mood. Like, every night. She sits at the table for ages after everyone else is done and everything but her plate has been cleared away. She stares at her food. She plays with her food. She sings songs to her food. She does dances for her food. She does everything but eat her food.

A couple of nights ago, I was really sick of it. I set a timer for 5 minutes and told her that if she didn't finish in that time, she was going to bed for the night. (Just so you know, yes, I've tried this trick before. No, it's never worked because I've never followed through with my going to bed threat. I was determined to not be a wimp on this night.) She played her same old game for the entire 5 minutes. The timer went off, I checked her plate and saw all the food on it. I took her by the arm and took her to her room. She went kicking, screaming and begging to be given another chance. I told her I was very sorry she was upset, but it was her own fault she was going to bed so early. I told her if she wanted to avoid having this happen again, all she had to do was eat her dinner. She then said, "well, just make sure that you always make something I want to eat and we'll never have this problem again." AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!