Meet six-year-old Sukie as she runs through the living room with a big plastic tub of glitter in each hand. "No running in the house. This isn't a playground." That's what her parents would say if they saw her. And, "You have to ask before you use glitter. And only at the kitchen table." Except Sukie's in a hurry, so she doesn't have time to ask permission. Oh, no! There's Dad. Busted! She waits for him to yell. Instead, he says, "So if your friend jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?" Huh? She tries to hold her hands steady, but the tubs of glitter spill all over the carpet. He looks her straight in the eye and says, "Don't pick your nose," and walks out of the room. What is wrong with Dad? Sukie calls an all-kid meeting with her older brothers, Brian and Reed who agree that both Mom and Dad are acting weird. Actually, Mom and Dad have been reading those psychology books again and are trying out a little behavior mod with their kids to make them listen. And their reverse psychology is about to backfire bigtime into war with their kids who decide to act bad on purpose, just to see what Mom and Dad will say.

This is a very clever and funny little book—you can read it in 2 sittings—for talking about behavior, discipline, and parent-child, relations. Collect examples of "parentspeak" and "kidspeak" in your family and talk over sensible, non-boring rules for behavior in your own house.


Themes: BEHAVIOR. BROTHERS AND SISTERS. ENGLISH LANGUAGE—TERMS AND PHRASES. HUMOROUS FICTION. PARENTING.