Payback

Who doesn't say this to their parents when they're growing up? Today, James got dressed wearing (intentionally) two different kinds of shoes.. he likes to mix match. Unfortunately, one pair was a slip on and one was laced, and I was afraid that they would feel different and result in some type of tripping or falling at some point during the day, so Mommy nixed that.. "go put on two of the same kinds of shoes". "Mommy, when I'm a parent, if my kid wants to wear two different kinds of shoes, I'm going to say ok".

At this point, I shattered his illusions of benevolent parenting by letting him know, "James, when I was your age, I used to tell *my* Mommy and Daddy that when I grew up, I would let my kid do whatever he wanted. Do I let you do whatever you want?". And that was the end of THAT conversation!