My son was really good at wheedling out of getting into trouble.
My wife thought it was cute when he gave her the puppy dog face, until she figured out it happened most when he did something wrong.
I seldom fell for that ploy, so he didn’t try it with me. I knew he was only three, but he needed to know right from wrong. At three years old, he was a regular Dennis the Menace and he was rambunctious. Nothing was safe when he was near. He had already broken most of our glasses and some of our furniture. It was done maliciously, but he thinks he is invincible. Last week, I caught him climbing on top of the air conditioning unit. He had his slide over to the AC unit and was trying to get on top. I told him he had to get off the air conditioner before he broke. He told me he wanted to be taller. I didn’t care what he wanted, I wanted him off the AC unit before he fell. I knew he wouldn’t break it. My son gave me the puppy dog face, and I grabbed him off the air conditioning unit and swatted his bottom. I wanted him to know there were consequences if he didn’t listen. My wife came and told me our son had told her what happened, and she wasn’t happy. She said her baby was in tears because I didn’t love him. I told her love doesn’t fix an air conditioning unit, and told her he was jumping on top of it. She agreed with me, because it wasn’t safe for him to crawl up there.