I decided to try Julie’s reverse psychology, of prescribing the behavior that works so well with Lulu, on my teenage daughter. I told her that I had to go into work for a few hours. I knew she was going to want to take something while I was gone. I wanted her to know that it was ok for her to take whatever she wanted. I didn’t want to have that between us. I told her that it was causing a problem with our relationship and I didn’t want that to happen. She was quite upset by my telling her to go ahead and take whatever she wanted. She adamantly said that she didn’t want anything. She said that she had her chocolate that she had earned from the credit sheet so she wouldn’t need anything else.

I reminded her that she had her Payday candy bar in her purse the other day when she ate three buffalo claws. She again stated that she didn’t need anything. I thought that maybe this was really going to work with her. It might work as well as it had worked preventing Lulu’s meltdowns.

Actually, I think that it may have prevented her from taking anything. However, she was apparently angry about the whole thing. Today, when she was doing her job, which is vacuuming the living room, dining room, and playroom, two of her siblings saw her spitting on the carpet.

When I asked her why she had spit on the carpet, she gave the usual answer, “I don’t know.”

I also have a phrase that I always use when I receive that response, “Then who should I ask.”

Then I hear the usual, “Me.”

Then I say, “I am asking you.”

Then she says, “I guess I wasn’t thinking.”

I agreed with her. Then I let her know that, after supper, she would be shampooing the carpets in all three rooms. Just in case, she had spit in the other rooms without being seen. Then I explained how to use the carpet shampooer and demonstrated the use. Then, because I needed to work on my blogs, I stayed in the playroom/computer room to observe. A French doorway, without French doors, separates the playroom from the dining room, so I was also able to observe her efforts in there.

I did make the mistake of getting angry, so we may be revisiting this behavior and consequence. When I think about my toddler picking things up off the floor to put in her mouth with spittle there it really ticked me off.