Rallying the troops - part 2

So what happened? Friday I mention that I plan on being around Saturday afternoon to watch the Utes season opener against Michigan, and before Annie get's a chance, the 5 year old chimes in with the nagging! "Dad - ughhh, noooooo, we don't want to watch football, you always watch football, it's our turn with the tv, we want to watch Dora"

I'll spare you the remaining 10 minutes of the rant. I think Kylie will require a submissive husband.

I grab Brock, and despite his not being able to talk yet, made sure his opinion was heard and that he put his foot down on the matter - football season is starting, and he and I will be doing a lot of watching it. His argument wasn't recieved any better than mine - but it is cool to have a little dude to go through this with.

Flash forward to Saturday evening. The Utes won, and the girls have spent the last 10 minutes tugging at me to come out back and play football with them (this has never happened, and am pretty sure has never crossed their mind previous!). So the whole family goes out, and spends about 45 minutes throwing the football around, chasing and tackling each other ala smear the queer, and having an overall great time. The girls totally dug it, and, I'm not exagerating here, are fired up about football!

Also should mention that Annie is totally on board and into the cycling.

So what happened? I have to admit that I've even impressed myself on these last two go rounds. The number one key to moving the masses of estrogen in my house to my way of thinking is what I'll entitle the "Uniform of persuasion". In it's simplest form, it consists of buying them an outfit that they happen to look really good in (by their own admission), but that can't be worn with a clear conscience unless they acquiese to the testosterone side of the argument.

So in the case of this saturday, I show up with a couple of pink Ute football jerseys for Kylie and Chesney that happen to be really cute (you have to be sure the duds will inspire them, don't waste the money if it's less than a 75/25 chance they'll feel compelled enough to wear it to abandon their position). I dug up a jersey I bought Annie last year that happens to be smokin hot on her, and no joke, in a matter of seconds, they were a team of football chicks, running around giddy in their football jerseys. It was an amazing sight and I don't know that I've ever been more proud of myself, I mean, them. They'd learned to cross party lines and reach across the isle when it mattered most.

As for the cycling, it just so happens that my wife takes pretty good care of herself which translates into her looking really good in cycling attire. So, you guessed it, I started buying her some nice digs made for cycling that I knew she'd be motivated to wear. This led to the purchase of a new Cervelo road bike this year, which I was more than happy to buy for her, and now, she's my favorite riding partner and totally get's it when I ask permission to take off for a while to ride my bike.

Husbands, boyfriends, guy's, dude's, and maybe son's?(wonder if I could have made this work with my mom back in the day - done wondering, no money to risk then!) - the secret is finding some good looking clothes (the "uniform") that somehow match up with the battle your fighting.

So, call it manipulation via wardrobe, taking advantage of a weakspot, or whatever you'd like, but the "Uniform of persuasion" may be my greatest contribution to the man side of mankind to date. Look for a chapter on it in the back of Carnegie's book next time your at your local Barnes and Noble.