Bizarre, isn't it, that adults of seemingly above average intelligence can't see when they are programming their children to do that?
By coincidence I saw one in the supermarket yesterday. We're all familiar with children crying when they are thwarted, but this one had a very calculated scream - very high pitched, loud and the only thing I have ever heard like it was a demo of a rape alarm. Painfully loud, and as far from a cry of genuine distress as you could get.
I knew instinctively that the parents would give in (it was the chocolate at the check out) and they did, but they held out quite a long time - they have certainly trained their daughter to perfection.
When she got the chocolate she didn't look at all distressed, and all I could see in her expression was the satisfaction that follows a successful negotiation.
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