Tuesday, May 18, 2010

people watching :: our coffee bribes

I was doing a little bit of people watching over the weekend. I watched how mother's and father's bribed their children with a babycino or a hot chocolate so they could have a coffee. I love it as I am very much one of these parents too!


I find it interesting as we firstly introduce the babycino to our little ones when they are old enough to enjoy a bit of fluffy milk, and are not willing to sit for long enough for us to have a coffee at our favourite cafes. This is our first form of bribery. Taj has just started this stage. But he needs more bribing along the lines of a little cake as he is not that fussed on babycinos as he still has the boob.


Keely however will have a babycino every now and then, but she has progressed up to the hot chocolate stage. This is more because they can turn a babycino from a full cup to an empty cup in moments. Not long enough for you to enjoy your hot coffee. We have invented a new form of cafe drink and that is the 'yum yum.' This is usually taken away from the cafe and is of course placed in a takeaway cup, with lid and a straw. The yum yum is warm milk filled to the top with chocolate sprinkled on top. We also have this eat in too, but I am finding no cake for Taj, then no coffee in ceramic cup for mum. Plus to be honest I love toddling over to the beach and having a wonder around rather then sitting down. This mumma loves her coffee in a paper cup.


I never wanted to be a mum that used bribery, but little did I know that this is part of parenting. Not all forms of bribery are food related of course. It is just a way of phrasing things that helps us have a happy child and in turn a happy mum or dad. I know I used to frown upon the bribing parents I would pass in the street before I had children. Now I have changed. I can comfortably say that I use a bit of word phrasing to help me through some tricky situations. Although, there is the time that I will not give in and I will stand back and let the tantrum begin.


Do you use any form of bribery, or word phrasing that helps you get through some sticky situations. You know that time that you really cannot watch the tantrum unfold?


ps. as Taj is a lover of fruit, I have used a new big piece of watermelon I bought from the growers this weekend to help us get through. I had to point that out, so you did not think I give my children really treaty bribes to help me out! The chocolate is kept for me!

13 comments:

  1. I've never tried babycino bribes. Usually I just get it and get out with a takeaway coffee and a muffin which we share on the walk around town. But bribery is a key parenting tactic. I just have to remember to give the reward after the behaviour, not before. But sometimes you just have to do what you have to do!

    ReplyDelete
  2. babycino might be the cutest thing i have ever heard of! i've not seen anything like it here in Texas. My son is only 8 months old but my most current form of bribery is cheerios - and a teeny bit of mommy's chocolate pudding!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Aw, so cute!
    My kids love going to cafes with my mum, and they have babycinos with her. My middle son also sometimes goes to a cafe with her for a breakfast treat. They go more to cafes more than me! It's funny, I was just posting about cafes too. but more of a solitary, classic, fantasy sense.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hayley, I have the same thing with Poppy! Babycinos just don't cut it for a 3 and a half year old!! We have the best little Italian cafes and patisseries down the road from us so I will usually 'bribe' Poppy with a hot chocolate and cannoli. I'm wondering what I will need to bribe Oscar with in a few months time....

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ah, my little guy gets bribed with babycinos, the eldest gets bribed with 'slushies' - the ones that are made with fruit juice instead of syrup. Like you, I use careful wording rather than outright bribing.... it helps with the Mamma guilt!

    ReplyDelete
  6. my two older ones love the coffee shop too, although neither of them are big on babycinos. they prefer the more expensive treats of iced chocolates and milkshakes - with a banana bread of course!

    please tell me about Taj's hat? i searched your shop but i couldn't find it?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh yes we've long been babycino & takeaway coffee converts/addicts in this house. Gosh Taj is a cutie, I'm jealous of all his gorgeous hair, my 2 year old baby is still conspicuously slow growing in that area x

    ReplyDelete
  8. I have one olive colour one Peta if you want it, I will email you! They are from Polka and I love them. They are meant to be for the bigger kids, but I still think it looks cool on Taj. hoping they have more left so I can pop them on the website, as they would be the perfect hat for right now.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Poppy and Sadie will suggest "let's have coffee" once we've been in the city for more than 20 minutes. They have their "coffees" while I have my double shot latte (one shot per two year old). They love it - and so do I.

    ReplyDelete
  10. i ate a lot of banana bread while pregnant so my little che developed a taste for it in utero. hence when I order a capp, a slice of toasted b'bread comes along too. i'd be interested in a polka hat too...there is a distinct dislike to beanies at the moment and i like to keep his head warm.

    ReplyDelete
  11. This is fascinating. As a non coffee drinker & someone who ONLY goes to a shopping centre to shop, not eat or stop or sit, even before i had 4 children under 5 with me . . . i have always managed to avoid milkshakes/ Boosts/ babycinos - my 4 are now in school & still have never had a bought hot chocolate, milk shake or babycino - they have had Boost juices as we lived in the tropics, they were a cool meal . . . anyway, i would take cheese & crackers in Tupperware, as it's 'clean mess' if they dropped crubms from the pram in a lovely shop, & just water. They still don't ask for snacks when we're out, but they would prefer sushi over McDonalds, but times 6 people, you can imagine the dent shopping centre snacks put on our budget - they are happy to share a $5 pull-a-part from Bakers Delight & drink from water bottles (from home). Thank goodness!! Funnily enough, i was brought up the same way, i never remember getting a milkshake or burger as a child, when visiting Chatswood or Macquarie Centre with my parents, just never happened & we never asked!! Hoy hoy, for more budget tips, he he . . . love Posie

    ReplyDelete
  12. We have 6 kids 11& under with a taste for Sushi too! We took them to the Sushi train to celebrate getting awesome school reports, and it ended up costing over $130 haha/eek! Had to focus on the reports as I paid. Our kids don't expect a treat every time we are out but I think it's great for them to be cafe trained, to know proper table manners and have the self control to behave appropriately in public and even enjoy it, (which they all do!)

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails