Bribery at its best

Today I tried out my new form of bribery in order to make leaving playtime a bit easier.  As I unbuckled Z from his carseat, I said, "Now we're going to go play at Sozo!" "SOZO!  SOZO!!  FUN!!" "Yes, we're going to have fun at Sozo, and when we're done playing, we'll come back to the car and you can have a tangerine while we drive home."  "Gerine gerine?  Gerine gerine car!"  (Bribe set up.)

While I was taking Z's coat off so he could play, I said, "Yay, we get to play at Sozo!  And when we're ready to leave, you'll get a tangerine for the car ride home!" (Bribe reinforced.)

We played at Sozo for a little over an hour.  Z was getting tired and cranky, so I started to get him ready to go.  The gateway bribe:  "Are you ready to go wash your hands?"  "Shi shou!  Shi shou!"  He ran over to the bathroom door, trying to open it.  "First let me put your socks and shoes back on, and then we can wash our hands."

Socks and shoes on and hands freshly washed, I walked him over to the coat rack.  ""Let's put on your coat and then you can hold the tangerine until we get to the car."  I put on his coat, handed him the tangerine, and turned around to get my coat and the diaper bag  (I was wearing Mei-mei in the Babyhawk).  By the time I turned back around, Z had run all the way across the gym to the front door, and was trying to convince the man watching the door to open it for him.  He was showing the man the tangerine, saying, "Outside!  Gerine gerine, car!  Open.  Door.  Gerine gerine car!"  (Bribe deployed.)

I took his hand (after thanking the man for keeping Z inside the gym) and he pulled me to the car, saying, "Gerine gerine car!  Please!  Gerine gerine!  Mama peel!"  I buckled him into his car seat, peeled the tangerine, and gave him a couple segments as I put Mei-mei into her car seat.  Z happily ate his tangerine as we headed home. (Bribe fully executed.  Success!)

This was SO much better than our usual way of leaving Sozo.  Our typical exit generally includes lots of kicking, screaming and flailing on the ground, and often involves carrying the kicker/screamer/flailer out under my arm.  Meanwhile, parents of younger children (or girls) look at us in horror while parents of older children smile at me in commiseration.  As you can imagine, this is not my ideal exit strategy.

I don't know what I'm going to do when tangerines are out of season.