The high price of greed

Tonight we had pitas with left-over braai from last night. Yummy. Except that Emily did not like the chicken in hers. She painstakingly removed it bit by bit, then refused to eat it. We said "fine"... but reminded her that she would not get any left-over chocolate cake if she didn't eat her chicken.

She ate all but the last 5 little pieces of chicken, so I very kindly (or so I thought) said she could have a small piece of cake.

Emily was horrified. She wanted a BIG piece. Jonty, who had polished off TWO pitas, had a big piece and she wanted a big piece too. Emily was NOT interested in a "baby" piece of cake.

She had a little tantrum. She got sent to the time-out mat. She came back when she was calm and in that same serene state, sat down at the table, and calmly flung the "small" piece of cake on the floor.

She went for some more "time out" with a very warm bottom. She had a good cry and when she came out and told me in her sweet little voice that she would eat her chicken. And she did - every last bit.

She got her (ever so slightly) bigger piece of cake. She ate about 3 mouthfuls of it, looked out the window - it is pitch dark here at from about 18h00 during "winter" - and said that it was so late "it's almost morning". Bottom line: She wanted to go to bed.

What about her cake? - no, she didn't want the rest of it, she'd had enough.

The silly girl. If she had just eaten the "baby" piece, she would not have had to eat the dreadful chicken AND she would have eaten more cake.

And so young Emily learns the high price of greed!!!