New empowerment brought to you by Disney

We announced recently to the kids that we're going to to Disney World for the first time.  Obviously, they were extremely pleased with this announcement and did their little dances of joy for a while afterward.  We're making a road trip out of it and stopping at several places along the way and back, which I'm sure will give me plenty of material for my July blog posts.

I didn't log on to tell you that though.  What I really wanted to talk about was the glorious power of "Disney" that I have over my children (except Bailey, the one year old, she doesn't give a damn about where we're going as long as she's not sitting in the same seat for more than 3 hours).  The other two though, wow, what a difference a word makes.

Here is a before and after example of what I'm talking about...

Before Disney,

Me- "Please feed the dog or you're gonna go to your room for the rest of your life!"
This usually ends up with a 10 minute argument of how they could possibly live their entire life in their bedroom.  It usually ends with me telling them to close their mouths and go to bed...and I feed the damn dog.

After Disney,

Me- "Please feed the dog or you're not going to Disney, and we're leaving you here by yourself, with the dog, for a week!"

Them- "Oh please father, do not say such things, we will feed the dog and care for her lovingly."
Okay, so that's not the actual wording they use, but man, that's what it feels like.  Guess who didn't have to feed the damn dog?  Me!

Unfortunately, the new power I have obtained is going to be short lived, so I'm putting to use as much as possible, even when its not entirely necessary.  For example, even though I know the kids are brushing their teeth I'll yell "You better be brushing your teeth, or you're not going to Disney EVER!"  Was it necessary?  Probably not, but you have to keep children on their toes as much as possible.  Sometimes I'll get a look from the 7 year old like "relax padre, we're already doing it for god's sake."  At that time I'll just say "all right then, keep up the good work, I really don't want to take Disney away, but I will if I have to."

See I just can't stop using the word even when writing about it.  Amazing!