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My mother advised me that you should always give a child a choice so that they feel they have some autonomy and control in their largely-dictated life.  Little did she know what she was setting me up for.  Or maybe she did, she has an ironic sense of humor.

So, when Jack was old enough to understand, I started offering him choices such as,  "Do you want to wear the red shirt or the blue shirt?"  Sometimes the choices were binary, "Do you want to go to the store with me, yes or no?"  Apparently this binary model appealed to him because now I am offered a choice with virtually every conversation. 

"Will you take me to the library mommy? Yes or no?"  Jack will ask.  "Um, we'll have to see" I'll respond, distractedly flipping through the mail or cooking dinner.  Indecision is not acceptable to Jack, who will increase the urgency in his voice and say "But will we go to the library, yes or no?  Yes or no will we go to the library? Yes. Or. No."   And these "choices" now crop up everywhere such as "Will I like this bread mommy yes or no?  Yes or no will I like this bread?"   Every so often I still trip up and give a "maybe" response which sends him into a tailspin like a computer program that is crashing due to unknown command prompts.

And for the award on putting a new spin on an old tactic, by age 2 Jack had already mastered the art of closing the sale while incorporating options when he first asked, "Can I have a cookie mommy?  Yes or Yes?"