Prep Talk

The car darkens as we went down the ramp to the parking lot at the nearby shopping mall, where we get our weekly groceries.

Suddenly, we heard this from the back seat.

"Can you run? No."

"Can you shout? No."

"Can you whine? No."

"Can you buy toys? No."

Jayden was giving himself a prep talk. Andrea and I looked at each other and smiled.

"That's right, Jayden. Be a good boy today, ya."

"Uh huh. See toys only. No buy."

"Very good, Jayden! You remembered the rules."

Even though I was 98 percent sure that he will forget (or he won't be able to control himself) one hour into our shopping trip, it was nice to know that all our nagging and constant repeating of rules have somehow drummed its way into his young brain. Let us hope it stays there.