First rule of parenting: plan ahead.

Don't do as I did last night, which was tell Berit we could go to Chili's restaurant together as a special treat, AND THEN try to bargain with her as to what she was allowed to get from the kid's menu.

It doesn't work. She just keeps begging until she breaks me down, and before I know it, my 6 year old is sitting across from me eating a corn dog and french fries, and I'm sitting there thinking that I'm going to have to answer to social services for her malnutrition.