The Power of Please

We were at the lake this weekend, eating lunch on Saturday, and for some reason, for a short time, TJ had a mean streak flowing through him. He didn't want me to sit at the table, under the cool breeze of the fan, with he and Nana. He kept telling me to get up and move and I kept joking back with him that I wouldn't. So, after bantering back and forth for a few minutes, he got kind of quiet. You could almost see the wheels turning, and then he says, "Mommy, if I say please, will you do anything I tell you?" I knew I needed to answer this carefully because he was questioning the power of using "please" and contemplating on whether he should really say it or not. So, I said "Well, I won't always do what you ask just because you say please, but you should always say please because I definitely won't do what you ask with out it." Then, he sits quietly again and seems to be pondering his next move. "Mommy, would you PLEASE move and go sit in that chair?"

Nana and I couldn't help but laugh at his attempt to get me to move from the table again and test whether "please" would help him get what he wanted. I just said "Thank you for asking nicely, but no, I am good where I am." He huffed a little in annoyance, and then was over it.