bribery doesn't work

We have mastered the potty. Our next challenge with Ella is thumb sucking. She never liked pacifiers. The benefits of a thumb sucker are great; no getting up in the middle of the night to find a paci caught in the bedding, no losing the paci while out, no other children using her paci, or her trying to use others paci’s.

Unfortunately, the one big draw back to thumb sucking is what makes pacis so great. I cannot cut off her thumb and tell it is broken, I cannot throw it away, the paci fairy cannot come and exchange it for a special present. So the bribery begins.

Saturday night before bed I told Ella that when she stopped sucking her thumb she could pick anything she wanted (mom and dad approved) and we would get it for her. She has been on a trampoline before and loved it. I thought that might be a good bribe. We had her going for a couple of minutes. She responded to the words “big special treat” with wide eyes and a big smile. Then I repeated that she could have her big special treat when she stopped sucking her thumb. Her reply was:

“I don’t want a big special treat, I want to still suck my thumb.”

For those of you that know Callie, this reminded me of her “they’re not my friends anymore” when her daddy told her all of her friends had stopped using a paci and were wearing big girl panties.

It sucks being out-smarted by a nearly 3-year-old.