Mind Games

So when I was a kid I had a rock collection.  One day I dumped them all out on my bed to look at them, dumping a smattering of sand along with them.  That night the sand refused to be easily brushed off so I couldn't sleep.  I got out of bed and walked into the living room to tell my Dad my tale of woe.  My Dad's reply was perfect, it was like he'd been thinking about it all day.  "Just pretend you're a sand shark."  I had just gotten an edition of zoobooks about sharks and had been swimming around the living room stalking the dog all day.  I ran back to my room, dove in my bed.  Suddenly the gritty feel of the sand on my legs didn't bother me at all, I was a shark again.  Perspective is a powerful thing.  

Parenting tricks like this are great.  The next best one is used to remedy excessive whining.  You just concoct your own blend of nasty oils and spices and call it "cure all juice" (or panacea for those of us who are snooty and think having a big vocab is a sign of intelligence).  After a few treatments you'll start to see less complains, so my sources say.

Now that I've shown you a few of the aces up my sleeve I want to hear about your favorite tips/trick.  Preferably somthing more creative/funny than "when my kids are bad I just spank 'em."