I’m not just a handsome, rugged, smart, talented, and humble guy. I’m also a very sensitive and loving dad. This post has nothing to do with that.

This post is about how my daughter tries to use her cute ways to manipulate my mind. I’m REALLY trying NOT to use a Star Wars Obi-Wan Kenobi reference here, so let’s move on.

My daughter Julia weighs about 34 lbs, she can bench-press like 4lbs at the most even after taking some of my Halotestin, but that doesn’t stop her from trying to break me with cuteness every chance she gets.

She’s currently learning the art of the set-up. The only defense I have from her cuteness is that I can see her set-ups coming a mile away. She’s about as subtle as Hughes H-4 Hercules coming up 5th ave.

You probably know your child’s set-ups. Mine has 2 major ones:

1. “Daddy, I’ve got a GREAT idea” (this usually means she wants to go somewhere or do something)
2. “Can I tell you a joke” OR “Can I tell you a secret” (this usually means she wants her way in the next 5 minutes and follows this up with some interesting way to tell me she loves me)

These set-ups RARELY work. Honestly, I’m WAYYYY smarter than a 4 year-old, but they sure are damn cute.

Here’s one example of the “Daddy, can I tell you a joke?” set-up. This was a Saturday morning. She didn’t want to take a bath yet. She wanted to play longer with her Cinderella dolls.

This event transpired like this:

ME: OK, time for your bath.

JULIA: Wait, can I tell you a joke?

ME: OK, let me tape it so I can remember it.

JULIA: Knock knock… (you get the rest)

Of course I ALWAY choose my battles wisely, and in this battle I let her win since really who CARES what time she’s taking her bath on a Saturday morning.

What does your kid do?