MissBEHAVED

“I just don’t want to be spanked every time I say the wrong thing,” she said, beginning to get frustrated, and that was the last thing that I wanted. Frustration would lead to her giving up on me.

“Then we’ll do the three strikes method for attitude and tone, how about that?” I suggested, trying to sound as reasonable as possible. “I’ll give you a warning, like I did tonight, if you cross the line, and if you get three warnings in one day, you earn a punishment.” I held my breath, waiting for her response while also trying to come up with an alternative if she said no.

“I guess that would be fair,” she agreed after considering it for a few seconds. “So that’s it? Those are all the rules, right?”

“Those are all the rules for right now,” I clarified. “Those may be all the rules for forever, but I don’t want to promise that since I can’t see the future. I can tell you that I won’t change any of the rules or add any without having another discussion like this. Okay?”

I prayed she accepted that as my final decision. One thing was for sure, Mellie was going to keep me on my toes if this conversation was any indication. I liked that she thought things through and wanted explanations, and now I knew to be even more prepared next time.

“Yes. Okay.” I let out a sigh of relief at having made it through that discussion, but it was short lived. “I have one more question.”

I took a deep breath and nodded for her to continue, bracing myself for whatever else she might say.

“Will you spend the night, tonight?”