Boy: I want to do something fun tonight.
Me: Well, the floor needs waxing.
Boy: Fun.
Me: Ahh, sorry. Missed that… carpet shampooing?
Boy: Fun.
Me: Right, right. Um… how about… we go for three days without me wanting to punt your butt down to the mailbox.
Boy: … but I like football.
Me: [raises eyebrow] Dork.
Boy: [grinning] Heee.

The best times with Justin are when he’s funny without being silly. The giggles are good, even when we’re talking about something annoying.

See, the trick is, we use humor.

I don’t know if we’re as successful as the people in the article because we are sarcastic sometimes, but having our pet sarcastic phrases thrown back in our faces by a pre-teen is a HELL of habit-breaker.