My favorite lately is the asking over and over and over trying to wear me down approach and then, when I finally cut him off because I know what he's after, he gets angry because I didn't even let him finish what he was going to say
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We've created a monster with the whole 'state your case and I'll listen until you've said everything you wanted to say' tactic because he does try to alter his phrasing or whatever to come at us a different way, only he's asking the same thing. We've had to start cutting him off at the beginning with a 'suggestion' that if he's going to ask a question he's already been given an answer for, he may want to reconsider.
Had to laugh at this one. I have had to create a rule where the more often DS asks, the less likely he is to get the answer he wants. In making this rule, I had to point out that asking, and maybe later reminding once, is not nagging, but repeating the same theme over and over again is nagging.
This goes along with asking me to define *exactly* how many peas, or other bites of food, he has to eat. "Is this enough?" "How about this, if I eat this, will that be enough?" My response has been that the more often he asks, the more that I will require him to eat. He has to guess what is reasonable, and when he is sure he has had enough, he can ask. - This rule, however, is partially because of negotiating and nagging tactics, and partially because he has a lot of foods he thinks are 'okay' but if he isn't in the mood, then he will try not to eat it. I'm not going to tell him he only needs to eat 8 peas, if left to his own devices he will actually eat 12.
