Somewhere several years ago (before kids) when we were making our first stabs at training our (then) puppy Tobi, I had heard that it was wise to give the dog an ice cube instead of a treat. The logic being that if we intelligent humans act like frozen chunks of water are the cat's meow, the dogs will also believe it to be true and therefore sit, stay, heel, or do backflips when promised such a delicacy. The trick is getting the dog excited enough about what he hasn't received yet to make him think he's actually getting prime rib.

In other words, brainwash your dog to like ice and he'll never want a real treat.

Save money and be healthy.

Tonight, I accidentally discovered the same trick can be used on kids.
I've never really bothered with ice for the kids because frankly, why should I? They don't know what they're missing and I'm not bothered with whiny comments like "But maaam, there's no ice in my water." Next would be requests for lemon slices or worse, threats to turn this establishment over to the health department if bottled Perrier isn't provided NOW!

Because I'm so generous (or really feeling guilty we had nothing better to drink in the fridge) I splurged with ice in the water at dinner.

Daniel looked at it like it was a rat in his soup and refused to drink it even after I dumped out the cube. Shannon and Katie were thrilled and wouldn't stop comparing cube sizes throughout the meal.

It was like I gave them cotton candy for dinner.

*jealous glances* *brag brag* "Ooohh... mine is still big. See yours? It's teeny already."

They sounded like a couple of girls at a sleepover comparing bra sizes.

By dessert, Daniel must have heard enough ooohing and ahhhing to let curiosity win out over pride because he requested a cup of ice water for himself. So after I explained that ice water does not come from a magic pitcher in the fridge but from adding ice to a plain cup of water, he tried it.

I think he felt a bit slighted.