My daughter has always had attitude. At seven hours old, she let the world know she’d arrived by waking all the other sleeping babies on the hospital ward with loud shouts. The nurses joked she’d be an opera singer. I winced.

Her spirit was apparant when she refused to take a bottle of expressed milk. Ever. Medicine on a spoon? No way. In fact, if she didn’t want to do it or she wasn’t 100% in control of it, she was not a fan. Not a fan at all.

I’ve since learned that the best way to persuade my two and a half year old to do something not involving chocolate or paint is to make her think it was her idea. This helps in certain situations, but not in ones involving a new personality trait she’s been displaying recently. Continue reading »