The wife & I work fairly hard to make sure we are consistent in how we discipline our kids. We want to make sure that pumpkin & Gumnut understand that we are the parents & that while we want them to experience lots of things in life, there are boundaries that we have to enforce for their own good.

I’d like to think my kids, (well at least pumpkin… at 6 weeks maybe gumnut’s too young?) understand and respect that.

But as we drove on the freeway this morning, I saw one small glimpse of the power that our kids now have.

As gumnut slowly faded to sleep in the back & pumpkin fought sleep with all her might, I looked over to see the wife trying desperately to open a small tupperware container.

Trying to be a good husband, I quietly offered to have a crack at it (possibly not the best idea when driving at 110kmph, but I am pretty talented), but she informed me that she could open it just fine. The problem was that if pumpkin heard or saw the contents of the container, we’d be in trouble for the rest of the drive!

How did we become captives to our own kids?

I felt a little like I was six again, making sure mum & dad didn’t catch me in the biscuit tin…

Ten minutes later, pumpkin fell asleep, the wife got her jelly beans, and I got to wonder just how much of the power do I really have?

Who holds the balance?