I have been using the following bit of reverse psychology on my kids the past few months. I thought I would share in case you want to try!

Here is a fictitious sample conversation:

Child: Could we have ice cream for lunch?

Mom: No, we don’t eat ice cream for lunch.

Child: But Dad says we can have ice cream for lunch!

Mom, looking stern and disapproving: I am tired of you bad-mouthing your dad like that!

At this point, I get blank, baffled stares; for one thing, they’re trying to figure out when they were bad-mouthing their dad in the first place. So far, it has worked like a charm and no one has had the nerve to say, “But Mom, we were bad-mouthing you!”

Try this one on your kids and let me know if it works for you, too!