I absolutely just bribed my kid to clean up his toys by telling him we’d bake brownies when he was done. I know that’s awful parenting but I didn’t much care. It’s raining and we can’t go outside. Plus, I want brownies.

Ian: Mommy, are we doing this backwards?
Me: no, we’re doing it exactly in order.
Ian: But, I LIKE backwards.
Me: Sorry, sweetie, you have to make the brownies, then eat them. If you could eat brownies before you made them, no one would ever make brownies. And there would be no brownies, and that would be sad.
Ian: (pauses for thought.) So. We make the brownies, then we eat them.