Mommy's Little Helpers

Here is your free parenting tip of the day from your old pal rockle: Tic-Tacs and other small candies are seriously the most useful thing that you can keep in your purse once your kid gets old enough to understand the concept of a bribe for good behavior (and once you're sure they won't choke on them).

Some people use Hershey's Kisses, or M&M's, and those are both perfectly legitimate ways to go, but for my money? It's Tic-Tacs and other mini-mints all the way. So far, there is NOTHING these little buggers can't do. I've gotten Cupcake to stop throwing tantrums, take her medicine, and eat broccoli by offering Tic-Tacs as rewards.

(Well, OK, technically she probably would have eaten the "bocky" on her own, because she likes it, but I believe in positive reinforcement, dammit, even if giving her candy for food she would have eaten anyway is doing it wrong.)

As you can see, the Tic-Tacs in my purse are getting some mileage. I don't really have reservations about this, because even though we don't allow a lot of candy in our house, it's kind of hard to get worked up over two little calories. So it's a perfectly acceptable indulgence.

NOTE: Those Eclipse mints? Have sucralose in them -- Splenda. Just FYI, in case you get an upset stomach from that stuff. Let this be a warning to READ THE INGREDIENT STATEMENTS FIRST. Especially when you're dealing with treats for kids.