Where Are The Pizza Hut Wolves When You Need Them?

Last night when I got home from work, my 5 year-old came up to me and asked if we could go to Pizza Hut. He enjoyed our last visit there a few weeks ago when we went into the Hut to redeem his coupon for a free Personal Pan pizza he got through his school’s Book It program. (Of course, we also wound up buying meals for MRS. TEH and me, so Pizza Hut does OK in this deal.) Ever since, he’s wanted to go back and he recently got another Book It coupon.

I wasn’t in the mood for going out in the falling snow to eat at Pizza Hut. I told him that we wouldn’t be going but maybe we would this weekend. Well, this didn’t sit well with him and he began to fake cry and started in on one of those whinny mantras that kids his age do when they want something and aren’t getting it. For the next 45 minutes all we heard was “I…WANNA…GO…TO…PIZZA…HUT.” Over and over and over again.


This reminded me of the time when Daughter Number 2 was about six years old and we were leaving my in-laws house near Effingham one night after dark to come back to Springfield. D#2 didn’t want to leave her grandmother “Gram”. So for about 30 miles in the back seat all we heard was “I…WANT…MY…GRAM”. Over and over and over again.

Mrs. TEH, who was driving, finally couldn’t take it anymore and pulled off the highway onto a country road. She took D#2 out of the car and sat her on the trunk and began having a stern talk with her about how she had to stop the whining mantra. D#2 was not heeding the request. Suddenly, a dog howled off in the distance and in a moment of quick-thinking desperation, Mrs. TEH told D#2 that that noise was wolves and if she didn’t stop the whining, we would leave her there and the wolves would get her. D#2 immediately shut her mouth and got into the car. The rest of the ride home was quiet.

Last night, I was desperately trying to think of ways to get wolves into the picture but eventually had to just wait it out.