The Truth Behind Caffeinated Beverages and Children

If you are like myself and most other parents I know or can on some level relate to, you are fueled by caffeinated beverages. I myself am a Diet Coke whore, I dream of the day that one can intravenously drip that nectar from the gods straight into my veins but for now I prefer it from a 12 ounce can. You might prefer, coffee, Red bull, Mountain Dew, etc., but whatever your poison I'm sure your children have a weird obsession with your caffeinated beverage of choice similar to Eve's obsession with the forbidden fruit. My boys are no different. They will do anything in their power to have that sweet nectar touch their lips, however, being the sensible parent that I am, I do everything in my power to prevent this from happening. Just the thought of two kids bouncing off the walls from their bout with caffeine is enough to make we want to pull my hair out but even I have my own Achilles heel. The vehicle, mini-van, cougar cruiser, silver bullet, whatever it is that you transport your children around in, that my friends is my weakness. The only thing worse than have children bounce off the walls from caffeine induced high, is listening to them fight, scream, complain, argue, talk incessantly while continuously getting louder to make sure they are the one child being heard, in the cougar cruiser. While in this state of transport, I am likely to say yes to anything and today I did. While out running errands, we stopped and got a snack, although they did not have Diet Coke, they did have Diet Mountain Dew, and I bought myself a filled to the brim vat of that not as good as Diet Coke nectar. That is when Kylen launched his sneak attack and asked if he could just have a sip. Under the duress of being in the cougar cruiser with the boys and running errands and listening to them argue and complain, I obliged. Foolishness. You would think by this stage in the game I would be better prepared to fend off this attack but I was not. I handed over my vat of Diet Mountain Dew and watch in horror through the rear view mirror as he guzzled as much of that sweet nectar down as fast as he could. Now I know what you are thinking, take it away, but it wasn't that simple. He had positioned his little self just out of reach of my grasp. I tried asking politely, I demanded, I even threatened but he still just sat their guzzling just a hair out of my reach. I even tried reasoning with him,"Kylen, why don't you want to give mommy back her soda, you wouldn't like it if I took something away from you." To which Zachary responded,"Mom, he knows that it's his one chance, that if he gives it back, he won't get any more sips so he has to drink as much as can as fast as he can." It now had my full blown attention, I had just been duped by a 4 year old. My children are much more tactically skilled than myself, I will admit, but I still get to make the rules. In the end, Kylen returned by soda for fear of having to take a nap and I got to leave bouncing off the walls, 4 year old, with Dustin while I went to work. I guess it worked out to be a draw for the two of us this time but I will be much better prepared next time.