Cesar, sounds like you have a couple of incredibly cute daughters. May I suggest something that you are certainly free to ignore.

First, please know that I personally have no children so my thought here comes from a place of ignorance and non-practical experience, thus I could be totally off-base. With that said…

I’m wondering if – perhaps – and as adorable as Orianna is, if it might be a wiser choice both for her and for your marriage (I’ve also never been married so the same disclaimer as above applies) if, after her Mom tells her “no” that you don’t overrule that, despite her persistence and the way she probably does have you wrapped around her little finger. I can only imagine how difficult it must be to say no to her. I’m just thinking that, I know that growing up, it always provided a sense of security to me to know that my Parents were a “united front” even if I didn’t necessarily agree with their decisions.

Which, of course, isn’t to say your wife’s decision couldn’t be changed, as long as your children understand that it was a “joint” decision as opposed to one Parent overruling or simply ignoring the decision of the other.

Again, please take my thoughts with the proverbial “grain of salt” knowing that I hardly qualify to provide advice in this area.

Its persistence. My daughter Orianna, to get her way, she doesn’t stop asking for something. Even after my wife had already said no. She goes to the other authority figure of the house, me, her father.

Her polite and repetitive saying of the word “Please”, wears me out pretty fast.

And yes, the cute smile, the pulling of the shoulder is the winning touch.

Yes, she has me wrapped around her little finger. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. At least for the most part.

We see examples of this intuitive ability – to effectively persuade – in children all the time, and it takes great insight to break down the process, and extract lessons for us all to learn from, and apply to our own agendas