This is not some kinky S&M thing, nor is it a reference to the slap bet. It’s not even a reference to Scott Turow’s book. It is far more sinister.

In our ongoing (seemingly eternal) struggles to get Esther to have a nap during the day, we have often taken to bribery to force the issue. This often works. Yesterday, we once again had to resort to bribery to get her to go to bed. The deal was this:
You go to bed now and sleep nicely and then mummy will go and buy some ice-cream and we can have ice-cream after supper.
This is surely any kids dream. Rest for a while, get up, have supper with the promise of ice-cream once you’ve got past all the yukky healthy food that mummy and daddy try to force into you!

Esther, on the other hand, is her own worst enemy. Shortly after being put into bed, she decided that she didn’t want to go to sleep. Even reminders of the promise of ice-cream could not get her back into bed. So she got up. She went with mummy to the shops and was reasonable well behaved. They got home from the shops and some time later we had supper. Supper was very nice and everyone ate nicely (even Tehilla). Afterwards, everyone except for Esther (and Tehilla, because she’s too young) had ice-cream. Esther was not particularly bothered by this.

However, that was not the ultimate punishment. Shortly after supper, it is normally time for Esther and Shira to go to bed. However, because Esther had not slept during the day, Ruth and I decided that she should go to bed immediately after supper and Shira would join her some time afterwards. This did not go down well with Esther. This was a complete affront to her position as eldest child, that she should be forced to go to bed before her little sister!

Fortunately she settled down eventually and by the time Shira went to bed, Esther was fast asleep.