Rotten

When I was little I remember a motivation technique the was used often. Whoever was in charge would motivate us to be somewhere or do something by saying, "Last one to the car is a rotten egg!" or, "Last one to get ready for church is a rotten egg!". You get the picture. Anyway, I started using that one day with my boys because I was getting desperate to get them to listen. I thought I would make it fun but I think they got a little confused. You see, my boys LIKE to be rotten. I figured this out early on and instead of saying, "LAST one" I say "FIRST one to get dressed is a rotten egg!". When I say it that way, they both clamor to be the first one. Usually Adam wins because he's the oldest, biggest, and fastest of the two. He'll gain victory and shout, "I'm rotten!" Then Lincoln will droop his head and cry, "Oh man! I wanted to be rotten!" He gets really upset so I have to say ," the next one is rotten too!" This usually makes him happy and then he'll run and do whatever it was I asked of him. Well, today I was trying to get the boys to come down for dinner. They wouldn't come, and wouldn't come. So I yelled up the stairs, "First one to the table is a rotten egg!" Of course, Adam has to win so he comes bounding down the stairs. Lincoln on the other hand was not responding to my motivation technique this time. Because Adam is the oldest, he feels it's his job to make sure everyone else is doing what they are supposed to do. He was getting very frustrated that Lincoln would not come down. I overheard him yelling up to Lincoln, "Lincoln! Don't you WANT to be rotten?" No answer. I guess not!