Here is a brief Great Moment in Manipulation from my childhood to illustrate my point.

As 6th graders we had an assignment to create a huge ABC book based on a story we read. There had to be a cover, table of contents and one page for each letter. You also had to have entries that displayed literary techniques like alliteration, similes, metaphors, etc... Huge project. I think we had about a month to work on it. I started it the night before it was due and, after 15 minutes of working by myself at our table, promptly broke down into tears as it was entirely overwhelming. Cue mom. I received a warranted chastising for being a procrastinator but, after some begging and even more tears, got some help. Don't get me wrong, I was still the conceptual director of this assignment, coming up with the brilliant text and ideas for illustrations, but my mom did the heavy lifting, cutting out construction paper letters and providing the know-how to turn my complex visions for the artwork into reality. Long story short: 149/150. And, honestly, that missing point was a travesty. I'm pretty sure Ms. Hockman, in her first year teaching, couldn't bare to throw out the Nadia Comaneci perfect score right off the bat because, where do you go after that? For other Great Moments in Manipulation please see: "Covered Wagon I Forgot Was Due" and "Pioneer House Every Other Kid Was Getting Help With So Let's Show These Cheating Little Bastards How It's Done, Mom."

With that said, there is no doubt in my mind I'm going to have to check myself from becoming a terrible enabler of Elliott. I was made aware of this the other day while watching Elliott attempt to put his plastic rings on their holder. He is pretty adept at this and whenever he puts one on he has to run over to either myself or Shelbi and clap for himself. But, on this day, he was struggling with the smallest ring. He had the right idea but, three times in a row, it rolled off the top of the holder and agonizingly onto the floor. Instead of waiting for him to figure it out, I felt badly. He was doing it the right way, he just needed some help in the form of me moving the holder to the center of the ring for him so he couldn't possibly fail. I wanted him to be able to clap for himself.

I have also found myself getting legitimately angry at some of this toys. He has a handful of objects that talk or flash when he hits corresponding buttons and he certainly knows the cause and effect now. So when he squeezes his toy dog's hand and is not rewarded with the phrase: "Hand! Now let's play!" I stare at the dog with contempt. What the crap, Mattel? I want this dog to teach my son  colors, numbers and rudimentary anatomy . If I wanted something with a 60% success rate I would have bought Best Not to Get Your Hopes Up Bear.