Good Idea Gone Bad

Soft foam dueling sabers.

About a week ago I posted my strategies for reducing the sugar intake of my kids. I smugly stated that I had some ideas that would induce the kids to part with their pile of high fructose corn syrup. Putting the theory into practice I bought a pair of foam swords for the kids with which to whack each other. I bought this toy with my seven-year-old son in mind, who has been pining for such for a while. I was so confident this would be a sure-fire hit.

Obviously things did not turn out as planned. The kid read my previous blog post and had convinced himself the loot he was to receive for his candy was to be the equivalent of his birthday and Hanukah combined. So when I showed him the Mashoonga saber and told him he could have it for all but 15 pieces of his candy, he had the psychomotor meltdown.

The daughter said great, took a moment to comprise an A-list of candy before forking it over, and began running around hitting stuff.

My son's world had completely fallen apart, he had planned on getting cash, Pokemon cards, and the sword, as well as keeping a good amount of candy, and now we were locked in a stalemate that was getting him nothing. Hours passed before things settled down: LSS did trade some cards for more candy, but the kid was adamant that he would hold on to about 30 pieces. 

My daughter saved the day, tenderly mentoring him, saying that he had some duplicates in his "keep" pile, winnowing it down to around 20 pieces. Then she gently pushed him to make the final sacrifice to get the sword. My final concession was that the next time I baked a dessert he could choose -- blueberry pie as this morning.

Today I wanted the candy out of the house quickly to end any further discussion.

Happy recipient..

 This marks the beginning and end of any fancy ideas about cutting the kids' sugar intake. Next year they can enjoy their haul free from parental interference. I honestly thought this would be a slam dunk. Live and learn.

The video below is the 17 seconds of relative non-meltdown time from last night.