what price peace?

Today was a chemo day (just chemo, no Herceptin), so I have, of course, spent the evening in bed feeling yucky.

From the upstairs bedroom, I overheard the following, which took place on the ground floor of our house:

D., my three-year old son: "I want to watch Scooby Doo Meets Batman now." (incidentally, this is probably one of the worst videos of all time)

Spouse: "It's dinner time. You can watch some of the video after you've eaten. Come to the table now."

D.: "I want to watch Scooby Doo NOW!!!"

Spouse: "D., you have two choices, you can watch the video after you've eaten your dinner or you can go to your room."

[insert increasingly hysterical repetitions of "I want to watch the video now," until they have crescendoed into a full-fledged tantrum.]

S., my eight year old: "D., if you stop crying, I'll give you a penny."

D.: "OK."

D. came to the table and ate his dinner happily. When he was done, S. gave him a penny.

My spouse and I are fully cognizant of the myriad ways in which this was problematic. But we did think the whole thing was pretty funny. And S. did get his brother to eat.