Firing the Parental Death-Star
The Evil Emperor turns to Luke: “Your friends have flown right into my trap but you can save them, just surrender to your hate”. Luke: “No, I’ll never join you”. Emperor: “Very well, then witness the awesome power of this fully operational Death Star, commander fire at will!”. – Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (as I remember it which is not entirely accurate)
Sometimes as a parent, you find yourself trying to be nice and reasonable with your four year old, you talk him through the situation but he is stubborn and becomes petulant, refusing to listen (e.g. “Sol, you’ve been playing Mario Galaxy way too much, it’s time to turn it off and go outside”). He may even start yelling rudely at you. It’s time to fire the parental Death Star: Commander fire at will!.
- Loud voice restating the required action: “SOL IT’S TIME TO TURN OFF THE WII”
- Stern glare: bring eyebrows down, clench jaw and purse lips.
- Action: Turning off the Wii
- Wait for it
At this point you probably have a tantrum on your hands. I usually revert back to good cop at this stage and give him a cuddle and let him tell me how sad he is about having to stop playing however sometimes things escalate and he goes for the retaliation such as turning the Wii back on. At this stage I need to fire the Death Star again and up the anti a bit like a bit of threatening. In the PPP course (which I haven’t done but I read a little bit of their notes) they recommend a logical consequence which is related to the crime, in this case “No Wii for a week” (because this is the third Wii related fight in a week).
“You’re not my Father, I’ll never join you”. Oh well, such is the life of a parent.
