I get flummoxed when one of my two kids launches into a tantrum over something trivial. Or, trivial to me. Yes, I know they’re kids. I understand their desires are very different from mine. But, even the most touchy-feely parents have to admit there are times when children act like spoiled brats.

And I really have no patience for such flagrant exploitation of my good will.

I’m done with trying to coddle them out of their crankiness. Or, for that matter, exerting the effort to punish them. From now on, I will handle their ridiculousness with imitation and mockery.

Case in point: Milo and my recent exchange after a trip to Target.

“Mom, why’d you buy Mary Poppins?” Imagine this said with much sagging of the body and dragging footsteps. “I HATE Mary Poppins.”

Funny, I remembered him watching and enjoying Mary Poppins at his cousin’s house just a few months before. But I said, “I was looking for the one DVD I knew you’d hate most. I picked up a few others: Finding Nemo. Annie. Cars. But then I said to myself, ‘No, Milo won’t hate those enough. I need to find the worst movie in the place. Hey, how about Mary Poppins? He’ll detest it. It’ll be great!’ And then I took the DVD to the cashier and paid. With your allowance.”

“Why?” he squeaked.

“Because I’m MEAN.”

Milo smiled his big, gap-toothed smile. And I knew I’d won.

Belle, too, has her share of terrible moments. Lately, when we ask her to do something she doesn’t want to, she’s fond of stomping her foot, yelling until my eardrums bleed and falling into a heap on the floor.

“Belle,” I said earlier this week. “How would you feel, if the next time you asked me to get you a glass of milk or to help you dress your doll, I threw myself to the ground and screamed?”

Like magic, she smiled too.

Maybe it’s not so much imitation and mockery as parenting with humor. Whatever it is, it amuses me and snaps Milo and Belle out of their eccentric kid moods. I think I’ll keep on with this technique. Next up: laying around in my pajamas and complaining how hard my life is while they’re trying to get out the door to school.