Parenting Secret #36: The Power Lies Within the Bunny Box

There comes a time in every new parent's life when he or she quite suddenly discovers The Secret. The Holy Grail. The one thing that holds all the power of universe over every two-year-old in its tiny little shell. Yes, of course I'm talking about

m&ms.

Up until this week, the Sugar Baby had never had an m&m. He went blissfully through almost three years of his life in total ignorance of these tiny treats. And then this week, Memaw sent him a package and in it was a small plastic bunny-shaped box of m&ms.

Frankly my first thought was, yay! Candy for me! But of course, I'm knee-deep in my 40 days of candy bar fasting, so they're off limits. I held out the little box and told the Sugar Baby he could have one. Can you even imagine eating just ONE m&m? It seems impossible. But to a little man who subsists on fruit and ... well, fruit ... one delicious m&m was enough to get him hooked. A new routine was immediately established. Now, whenever we get home from our morning errands, he looks at me with his big blue eyes and says, "An m&m and I go to bed."

I'm trying to be a good parent and not to use the m&m's as a bribe. But dang, it's so easy. Today, he held his pre-nap m&m in his hand while I got him ready for bed. When he was kicking like a wild mule fussing while I changed his diaper, I actually threatened him. "I can take away your m&m!" I said.

He immediately popped it into his mouth. So much for the authority of mom.