How My Brilliant Plan Went Awry...

Sometimes? On occasion?

Brade acts like a brat.

It's okay. He's 2. It's expected.

But when he starts acting like a brat- primarily when he starts telling me to do something- I say "Hey. Are you the boss?"

This is his signal that he's about to be in trouble. And then he answers "no".

Then I say "Who is the boss?"

And he says "Mama"

It's surprisingly effective.

For most people, this would be good enough.

Not for me though. I had to make it funny.

So I taught him something new.

Now I say "Hey. Are you the boss?" and Brade says "no."

Then I say "Who is the boss?"

And he says "Mama"

Then I say "And who else?"

And he says "Tony Danza".

Endlessly amusing, right?

The problem is, he doesn't get the joke.

So he gets confused.

The other question I ask him all the time is "Who loves you?"

The answer- obviously- is "Mama"

Except he got confused.

Now, if you ask my child "Who loves you?", he will answer "Tony Danza".

And that's what you get for trying to be funny.