They do it just to annoy, you know.

[conuly]

The other week I was making sandwiches for the nieces for lunch, because I had some turkey to use up before it went bad and I thought it would be good if they had a lunch other than eggs one day that week.

Now, for the past year, approximately twice a week, I've been making them meat sandwiches with mustard, because they both professed a profound dislike of mayo. I mean, "hide the lunch behind the sofa" levels of dislike. Never mind that the huge jar of mayo I bought before they expressed this dislike slowly expired and went bad in the fridge, it was mustard all the way! So, of course, what was I doing to these turkey sandwiches?

I had just spread the mustard on two slices of bread when Evangeline walked in and said "Oh, I don't really like mustard anymore. I want mayonnaise."

Me: The same mayonnaise you've refused to eat for the past year?
Eva: Yes. I mean, I'll eat it, because you already made it and I know Ana likes it, but next time, can I have it without the mustard?
Me: Sure. So long as you tell me in advance, it's not a problem.

Eva leaves, and right on cue her sister walks in!

Ana: Ew, mustard. Can't you make it with mayonnaise for once?

Comments

[siderea]

Eva: Yes. I mean, I'll eat it, because you already made it and I know Ana likes it, but next time, can I have it without the mustard?

What a well-spoken young woman. Would that they all were like that.

[conuly]

It can make disagreeing with her very tough, because here you are ready to argue and she comes up with a neat little objection that, frankly, makes you look a bit stupid.

Of course, the other half of the time she's whining, but at seven that's pretty much what we expect. She's bound to grow out of it.

[siderea]

It can make disagreeing with her very tough, because here you are ready to argue and she comes up with a neat little objection that, frankly, makes you look a bit stupid.

I believe the technical terms for that are "being right" and "winning". :D

[conuly]

Bah, she's seven, she's not allowed to be right!

Especially if that makes me somewhat, uh, less right. How embarrassing!

[siderea]

You do understand, this rightness problem is only going rapidly to get worse? Much, much worse. :}

ETA: More seriously: How you handle this will teach her how it is appropriate for an authority figure to behave when proven wrong. Are authority figures entitled to blow it off and scowl? To punish the underling for undermining their authority? To be passive aggressive in reprisal? Or are they supposed to be gracious and open to new information and ideas which contradict what they thought they knew, but is better than what they had? Can they say "I was mistaken" without sacrificing their dignity or their moral authority?

And this is important because, it seems highly likely given the available evidence and devoutly to be wished, someday she will be an authority figure, whether a mom or a manager or a police officer or the President of the United States. Please make her a good one, okay?

[conuly]

Oh, I know. It's... just really really annoying!

No, when they're right, they're right. It's our fault, we are trying to raise them to be more or less self-sufficient, and that makes them right a lot. But I guess it's better than the alternative. (Though I hate, hate, hate not being right. Childish? Definitely.)

[eofs.livejournal.com]

On the plus side, I'm impressed by Eva's maturity here:

Eva: Yes. I mean, I'll eat it, because you already made it and I know Ana likes it, but next time, can I have it without the mustard?

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Aaaaghhh!

... perhaps this is a sign that it's time for them to start making their own sandwiches?

[conuly]

They would've preferred to make eggs. I would have preferred to have some eggs left.