Do you want some fries with that?

Lately my nine year old munchkin has been pushing the envelope.

Some days he is fine and agreeable and lovely company

and other days every line must be crossed and every boundary must be tested.

Case in point:

Yesterday I took the kids to the mall.

Their Dad was going to meet us over there for lunch

and then I was going to take Kate back home to study for exams

while the boys and I went to the Roller Rink.

We grabbed a table and then I doled out the money for each person to get their food.

Kate was heading to ChickFilA, Chris to Five Guys with me, Rob to Chipotle

and Trey to an Asian place to get Bourbon Chicken.

A short time later we reconvened at the table with our meals.

I noticed Trey had Orange Chicken instead of the Bourbon chicken he had been planning on getting.

He was glumly pushing his chicken around on the plate.

When I asked what was wrong, he told me that the sample had been so good,

but a whole plate of it was too much.

I've made the same mistake so I agreed with him and told him he'd know better next time

and to eat the rice and chicken together to cut the strong flavor.

A few minutes later he noticed everyone had soda cups,

while he had a bottle of lemonade.

"Why does everyone else get a soda and I don't?" he asked in a whiny tone.

"You could have chosen to get a soda too, if you'd wanted to" I told him.

Chris kindly offered to share his root beer with Trey.

Nevertheless, Trey sat at the table grumping and grumbling,

whining and moaning and complaining.

I could feel my back getting more and more rigid with annoyance.

"Trey" I said in a very clear, aggravated tone, "you need to stop complaining. You have a meal there, you've been offered some fries and root beer to share, and I will not have you sit there and ruin everyone else's lunch."

Trey was in no mood to comply.

He continued to sulk and act like a complete toad.

Within seconds, I simply SNAPPED.

I stood up, grabbed his entire meal, grabbed his bottle of lemonade

and strode over to the trashcan.

I tossed every bit of it right in,

while Trey and Rob watched with their mouths positively agape.

Then I came back, picked up my burger and recommenced eating my lunch.

I could be wrong, but I think he'll think twice about ruining our meal

with a bad attitude for quite a while.