My kids detest brushing their teeth! They just didn’t see the point, so I may or may not have told them that if they don’t brush, their teeth will fall out of their mouth. They really seized on that, and now when I ask them to brush their teeth, my daughter often says, “Or else my teeth will fall out of my mouth, right daddy?”

Riiight. I mean, I guess if you didn’t brush your teeth ever, then eventually your teeth will fall out!? So what I said was true, from a certain point of view. I was kinda hoping though that they’d forget about this rule before they got old enough to understand that maybe I was exaggerating!

I'm definitely a chronic exaggerater with my kids! I just asked the kids for different ways they could die, and here’s what they said (all based on things I've told them):

* If they don’t wear their seatbelt and we get into a car crash, they will die.
* If they don’t hold my hand while walking down a busy street, a car might hit them and they will die.
* If they don’t look at the blinking walk sign while crossing the street, they could die.

Apparently I go straight to the “you could die” consequence a little too often. Will have to introduce more nuance, especially now that the kids are getting older!

Do you ever exaggerate the consequences of the kids not listening to you?