The other day Dan and Damian were watching a Reading Rainbow episode about family. LeVar Burton asked kids what they didn’t like about their families. The children had all the usual complaints – brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers who didn’t do what they wanted, who did things they didn’t want. You can fill in the blanks, I’m sure. Dan paused the show to ask Damian if he could think of anything he didn’t like about us. Damian’s response: “I don’t like it when you scold me.”
Dan: “We don’t like to scold you either, sweetie.”
Damian (without missing a beat): “Then don’t do it!” Very self-righteous, too. Like, you shouldn’t be telling me off anyway, so stop it already!
These days when we scold him, he doesn’t just exclaim, “Don’t say that” and “I won’t love you if you say that again” (though always with an escape clause, ie: “I won’t love you again until tomorrow.”) He now says “I didn’t hear what you said. Say it again.” And then he covers his ears. So he really won’t hear, you see.