The other day we were walking to our car in the bowling alley parking lot and Hyrum was asking for a toy from McDonald's on the way home. Jeff told him "no" and Hyrum was silent for a minute...then he said, "Dad, if you don't get me a toy from McDonald's, then I won't ever do anything you say." I was definately caught off-guard, and decided to take a minute to teach him. I said, "Hyrum, what you are doing is called t-h-r-e-a-t-e-n-i-n-g...that is not a nice way to talk about what you want. It makes people feel bad." Again, silence.
After a minute, he said. "Mom, threatening is my favorite thing in the world to do." Well, so much for that teaching, so I tried another tactic. "Hyrum, if you threaten, dad will never buy you a toy at McDonald's." Another long silence. Then the brilliance, "Mom, my favorite thing in the world is to love my family."
Precious, just precious. But despite his brilliance, he didn't get the toy...but he did get an ice cream cone.
