Homemade bread is beyond a three-year old's ability to resist. So, when he neglected the rest of his dinner to eat one piece after another, we gave him the ultimatum, "Finish your dinner or no more bread!" Desperate for me, he begged and pleaded, "Please, I promise to eat my dinner if you give me one more piece first."
We thought this was as good a time as any to teach him the importance of keeping promises, so I said, "I trust you. You made a promise. Promises are very important, and if you don't keep your promise, I won't believe them anymore." Then I gave him more bread and waited to see what would happen.
To our surprise and relief, a few minutes later he showed me his empty plate. He kept his promise. We were so excited, in fact, that we made a little celebration out of it. Hopefully, he never forgets how good it felt to keep his promise at dinner.
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