Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Ice Cream Power Struggle

Ethan and I have reached a developmental milestone.

The you are old enough to scoop your own ice cream milestone.

This milestone is proving to be more difficult to climb over than other developmental milestones. Ethan still wants me to scoop his ice cream and I'm tired of acting like the waitress. I'm not a waitress. Thirteen is old enough to scoop your own ice cream.

To encourage Ethan's self reliance in this area, I've always given him a small amount of ice cream with the thought that one day he might look forward to loading up his own bowl. But this does not seem to be the case.

Here is what the ice cream exchange usually sounds like:

Ethan: Mom, can I have some ice cream?
Me: Sure. Help yourself.
Ethan: (does not scoop ice cream. busies himself for a few minutes) Mom, can I have some ice cream?
Me: Sure. Help yourself. The scoop is right here on the counter.
Ethan: (nothing. after a few minutes. . .) Mom, can I have some ice cream?
Me: The ice cream is sitting out on the counter. The bowls are in the cupboard.

3 hours later . . .

Ethan: Mom, you never got me any ice cream. You said I could have some. I want some ice cream.
Me: Why don't we try this again tomorrow night.

And so the struggle continues.

Tune in next time for the latest in the ice cream scooping saga.

3 comments:

Natalie said...

I'm glad I'm not the only one who's tired of playing waitress when self-serve would work better.

Our Family said...

It took until our third child to find someone motivated to take over the ice cream scooping for us. Daniel will do anything for an extra scoop of ice cream, including scoop for everyone in the family. It's great, and it was worth the wait! ; )

I-Shüan said...

I'm amazed that you have been planning for his ice cream self-reliance for years! That's a milestone I haven't even thought about!