I bought Jack some new clothes recently.  He had grown out of all of his long sleeved shirts and it’s been cold and rainy here.  I bought some uber cute shirts from The Children’s Place featuring things like guitars and monsters on the front.  Only problem?  He refuses to wear them.  He says he doesn’t like ANY of them, claiming: “Those are BAD shirts.”  Yesterday Jack ended up in a too-small shirt at daycare because it was the only old piece of clothing that was clean and his fit was monstrous (especially after I tried to bribe him with a cookie and when it didn’t work, I withheld the cookie, which led to a 30 minute tantrum).

When Jack tried to put up another fight this morning, I decided to play hardball.  I asked nicely first and then when he refused…

“Jack, if you don’t pick a shirt to wear, I’m going to send you out in the rain without one.”

“Noooooooooooooo!”

“Which shirt do you want to wear?”

“I don’t like those shirts, moooooom!”

*opening the front door to show him the pouring rain* “Okay, let’s go.  No shirt for you!  You’re going naked in the rain.”

“Nooooooo, I’ll put a shirt on!”

And so he did.  He whined but I got a (pirate monkey) shirt on him and his new waterproof jacket and we got out the door without too much frustration.

Let it be known that I do not negotiate with terrorists, even (especially!) three year old ones.