Having it Stuck to you by The Man

Most anyone who reads my blog knows how fondly I think of my nieces and nephews. I love them so much. The bring me much joy and occasionally a bit of stress. My nephew Gavin just turned 4 years old and has a lot of what I call "puppy energy" he is all over the place and into everything. His new thing is chucking things, he just winds up and throws. Sometimes it's a stuffed animal, sometimes a rock, and last night it was a piece of a toy railroad track at my face. I told his mom that I'm suing him.

My sister Chrissi tries all different styles of parenting to get her kids to mind. Some are effective and others not so much. However the one that seems to work the best is..."THE MAN".

Now you are probably asking, just who is the man? Well that doesn't really matter. I think I can illustrate this best by using an example.

Say for example, we are at Target. My nephew is holding an Otter Pop and is about to chuck it. My sister looks him straight in the eye and says "Don't you throw that or I will tell the man." Gavin lowers his projectile and Alexander the Grape for the moment is spared.

She could say just about anything else she could think of "I'll tell your dad" , "You are going to get a time out.", " I am going to sell you to gypsies." and none would have any effect, yet the moment she evokes "The MAN" she gets results. 

They never stop and say which man, or anything like that. They just know they want nothing to do with the man. I remember I was sitting in her Yukon the first time I ever heard my sister invoke the man. Any naughty business was quickly curtailed. Sure the identity of "The Man" was never revealed but the mere mention that he would be made aware was enough to settle things down.

Now there is a variation of this where Chrissi will point to a stranger and say something like, " I am going to tell that man." And for some reason the kids want no part of that and their behavior improves. Now you might think that at some point they will call her bluff on this, but it hasn't happened yet.

Even at a young age "The Man" is keeping them down.