The house of THIS or THAT

I don’t remember what parenting book it was that I read early on, but it made a huge impact on how residents of the Nirvana relate to each other. The book stressed how important it was for children to have choices. These choices needed to be concrete and age-appropriately narrowed down. I interpreted that to be a simple question of either/or… Ryan, would you like to do your math or phonics homework first? Reid, would you like to stay with your dad or come with me? Rhett, would you like the blue or yellow cup? Simple enough. Effective. My choice of their choices. I started noticing that the boys were doing the same thing back to me. Simple enough. Effective. Their choice of thier choices. They use the technique in completely different ways. Ryan is a master of the Multi-level Reward-based Either/or: Mom, would you rather I do my math homework and then play the Wii or do my math homework and then play my DS? The Extreme Sweeping Statement Either/Either is Reid’s favorite: Mommy, would you rather I never go with you or stay here forever? What brought this to my attention this morning was Rhett’s Non-sequitur Either/or at my bed this morning at 6:15 am with blue power ranger suit in hand: Mommy I am starving! Would you feed me NOW or put on this costume on me? I am a little worried that he isn’t aiming HIGH enough. Breakfast around here is a given. Donning a power ranger suit has high probability. Every once in awhile he could try for an Either/And…