Reverse Reverse Psychology

Reverse phsychology has been one of the revered tools of parenting toddlers and preschoolers for quite a while. Sometimes, nothing works better than agreeing with an irrational request and watch your kid scramble to take the other side. (After all, who wants to be in agreement with their parents huh?) However, unfortunately, and much to my huge disappointment, this technique does not work with Bree by and large. I don't know if she's just smarter than me or what but not only does it not work on her but she usually manages to turn it directly around on me. Take this prime example:

The other day I was just tired of picking up after her. Every day the same story, all her toys scattered around in all the rooms of the house and especially in the living room. And all on the floor, which is a problem for me since these days bending over repeatedly to grab them off the floor either makes me feel like I'm going to vomit or faint depending on how recently I've eaten a meal. It just squishes my baby belly even more than the baby does. So, fed up I was determined to make Bree help. I know she's old enough to help out and smart enough to get the idea. I say, "Brianna Rose, help me pick up all your toys that are making a mess in here." I get ignored. "Bree, put your toys in the baskets please. We need to clean up." More ignoring. (She's learned not to flat out tell me no but just pretends not to hear me.) Well, finally after awhile I said, "That's okay. You don't have to pick them up. You have too many toys anyways so I'm gonna throw the ones that aren't in the basket in the trash."

So, you'd think that would work. But, no. Maybe she doesn't take me seriously or I haven't followed through on that kind of statement enough but instead of getting off her butt to help me pick up she says to me, "That's okay. You can throw them away. I don't need them. Just not the ones in my room okay?" Of course, this made me feel kind of bad and guilty about threatening to throw away her toys....What the heck?! She reverse, reverse psychologied me! Is that the answer you would expect your almost 3 yr. old to give you??! I ask you!!