In the one corner we have Grace – strong, defiant, stubbornly refusing. In the other corner, Mom and Dad – a team, unwavering, stubbornly persistent. The battlefield….supper…..lasagne….and no matter how delicious it is, Grace is refusing to even take a mouthful.

So after we have all finished our supper, and she hasn’t touched her lasagne and has hardly eaten any of her other food, the rest of us have been excused (to tidy the house and get ready for bath time), and she is stuck at the table, unable to move on until she has had two mouthfuls of lasagne (which Donné has worked hard to prepare, and Grace has rudely rejected without even trying).

Donné says to Grace, “You are making this much more difficult than it needs to be, just eat two mouthfuls and you can be on your way.” Grace replies, “Leave me alone to think about it.”

The rule: eat two mouthfuls or sit at the table until Eli has finished bathing.

Persistence won. She did eventually eat her two mouthfuls.