I was taking care of my grandson because he was home from school.  He was not sick but he had pink eye.  We agreed that he would play on his computer on his breaks from math work, writing, and reading.  But he did NOT WANT to do school work.  And he is very dramatic.  And he is manipulative ( because he is smart).  And he wants to be in control  (because he is smart).  And he LOVES to complain (because he is smart and he knows an adult can only tolerate so much).  And once you open the door to expressive freedom, it is hard to stop what everyone knows is coming next.  Only I wasn’t in the mood for the dramatic temper tantrum and I was not going to placate it.

Instead, I offered him tea with honey.  We used up whatever honey was left in the jar.  It was one of those honey bear jars.  And I got an idea.  I told him we were going to to do something fun.  We searched the apartment for baking soda and vinegar.

We washed the honey bear and dried it.  We filled it halfway with baking soda.  We took the little plastic piece that modulates the flow of the honey and put the lid back on.  With the lid open, I poured th vinegar into the little hole.  AND SWEET LITTLE, CUTE LITTLE, HONEY BEAR BLEW HIS STACK!

“Now every time you have to do work, we will the honey bear blow his stack, instead of you blowing yours,” I said. And so  the honey bear and some simple chemical reaction became our anger management tool!

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