So simple, yet so effective. This syrup trick helped my kids and I reach a common ground about the necessary vs. desired amount of syrup on their waffles and pancakes.
Pour 80% of the syrup AROUND the pancake, 20% on it. This gives the illusion that so much syrup was poured over your child’s breakfast that it created an overflow moat onto the plate. *raise one eyebrow and smirk. Now you’ve dispensed a healthy serving of syrup, while falsely fulfilling your child’s greedy need for more sugar.
Now I get to sit down and drink my coffee when it’s hot instead of watching the hot steam sneak away while I indignantly explain to my kids that I’ve put an ample amount of syrup on their waffles and they do not need any more. This of course is followed by 10 minutes of arguing and whining before I finally give in and obnoxiously pour an obscene amount of syrup onto their plates, in order to avoid any further discussion on the topic while mumbling under my breath about how unreasonable they’re being. Even though I know damn well that if they just ate the damn waffles in the first place, they would see that they are perfectly soaked in syrup.