“That’s 1.”“You never give me anything!”
“That’s 2.”
“THEN I’M GOING TO KILL MYSELF AND THEN RUN AWAY
FROM HOME!”
“That’s 3. Take five.”
Mom did much better. The temporarily unhappy child disappears
for a rest period, and the episode is over.
How’s it going to go when the child is more used to counting and
realizes that testing and manipulation are useless?
SCENE III: THE 1-2-3 AFTER THE CHILD IS USED TO
COUNTING
“Can I have a Twinkie?”
“No, dear.”
“Why not?”
“Because we’re eating at six o’clock.”
“Yeah, but I want one.”
“That’s 1.”
(Pause.) “Oh, all right.” (Grumpy exit from kitchen.)
Good work by Mom again. She doesn’t have to count the grumpy
“Oh, all right” because the comment is minor and the child is leaving
the scene of the crime. If the child had said, “Oh, all right, you stupid