Desdemona Could Have Used Some!

Daughter, with ratty hair, asking yesterday for the "de-strangler"... (that's detangler). Loved it.
We also hit the limits of rational discussion when trying to get her to stop picking up the kitty fifty times a day. Talking... hasn't worked. Time outs... she doesn't care. So yesterday I sat her on my lap and said: Pretend you're a mommy. You have a little girl, who picks up a cat too many times every day. You have to keep the kitty safe, so what can you do? "I don't know," says daughter. You have to come up with a solution, says I, because you're a mommy. "Hmm. Talk to the girl? Tell her not to?" Good idea. Unfortunately, you tried that, and it doesn't work. "I'm out of ideas," she says. Well, as the mommy you can't just give up. You have to find a solution to the problem. "Put her in time out?" Yes, another good idea. But you've tried that too, and it hasn't fixed the problem. "Kill the girl?" she asks. (Argh!) Actually, at some point she forgot it was not hypothetical, because she finally thought deducting pocket money was a terrific solution, and when I said OK, that's what we'll do then, she was horrified.