The Manipulation of a Child

I received a call from my mother-in-law last night she told me that the Little Man wanted to talk to me and then gave him the phone. Normally a phone call from my mother-in-law followed by the phone being handed to my offspring means that he has done something that he needs to have the fear of god put into him for. I did not realize that I was to become part of his stunt for the moment until long after our conversation had ended. He started to tell me about how he wanted to come home because he missed me. When I informed him that The Sig and I were not going to be home he asked if he could come with us. I told him no, we were doing adult things that he would not enjoy to celebrate our anniversary. He started to cry. I have never been able to stand it when he cries, it just feels like someone is choking a part of me. I was fortunate that The Sig walked in at that precise moment carrying a dozen roses, my favorite coffee, and a lovely card. I asked Little Man if he would like to speak with his father and he said he did, noticeably lacking any sign of tears in his voice. I gave the phone to The Sig and he spoke with our child for awhile inadvertently calming him down and finding the root of the real problem at the same time. Later at dinner he informed me of the real reason our son wanted to come home, he was trying to punish my in-laws. It turns out that he had wanted to spend the night at The Sig’s grandmothers house with his cousin but my mother-in-law told him no. She had good reason to say no, and I am glad she did, but our Little Man was very angry with her. In his anger he told her that he wanted to go home, so she called me. On the phone with me he proceeded to lie and manipulate in order to get his way and punish my mother-in-law. Little did he know things are not that easy in our family. My mother-in-law spoke with The Sig and gave him the whole back story which he in turn relayed to me over dinner. Naturally I am pissed. I will not tolerate my child acting like a spoiled brat, and his attempt to punish the adults around him is one of the most intolerable displays of arrogance that I have ever seen come out of him. It is going to be very sad when he comes home tonight only to have his butt busted, but maybe he will learn a lesson in there some where. Man, I didn’t think this BS would start until he was a teenager. Gods help me this probably means that he is going to take after me and be my reason for frustration in ten years. Why couldn’t he just take after The Sig? Damn Karma.