Pride is kind of like putting weed in brownies; it is okay to have a little, but too much is going to get you in trouble. A lot of times we say things in the heat of passion when arguing with someone that you may not actually mean, but end up sticking to because you are be too proud to admit defeat. But at the same time making empty threats makes it hard to respect you, so you have to mean what you say even if you may regret it later so people don’t think you are weak minded.

Relationships of all kinds can be impacted by our commitment to pride. People won’t talk to each other for years because of a fight over a Nintendo game, but hey it was my turn not theirs and they are always taking things from me so whatever. It is challenging to find the balance of when to assert ourselves and when to acquiesce, but at the same time life is short, time flies, and one flew over the cuckoos nest.

Now that The Munch is beginning to understand what I am saying to her, it is getting harder and harder to know what rules to enforce and when. Sometimes I tell her not to do something, like stand in her highchair for example. Rather than sitting down, she will make funny faces at me. What do I do? Well, I laugh that is what I do… so I guess my real question is what should I do?

If I try and force her to sit down when she doesn’t want to it will definitely lead to a total meltdown and our happy mealtime will inevitably be ruined. She then won’t eat enough for dinner, wake up hungry in the middle of the night, and be tired the next morning. But if I don’t enforce the rule I just invoked The Munch will think I am a total chump right? Yet at the same time, if I wait a few minutes and ask her to sit again, sometimes she will and all is good?

Sigh… I think I need to eat one of those brownies.

“Hey Munch… no eating in the living room. But awwwww…. you look so cute eating on your monkey chair.”