No whip cream, no sprinkles, no cherries, no chocolate shavings, nothing but two scoops of ice cream are allowed on our trips to the ice cream shop.

Imagine Seinfeld's Soup Nazi but only a taller, thinner and much more gorgeous brunette in stilettos yelling "No sprinkles for you!" It may sound harsh to some, but the "two scoops of ice cream and nothing else" rule has served us well for years. It minimizes the "no fair!" bickering in a three-children household and creates for a more enjoyable experience when the children know what to expect. Two scoops and nothing else. Don't even ask.

Until yesterday.

When my child created such a convincing argument that I had no choice but to reward him.

"Two scoops of Mitchell's ice cream is $4.65. One bottle of root beer is $1.69. That brings the total to $6.34."

"Okay. And your point is? "

"My point is that a root beer float is actually only $4.79. That's only 14 cents more then two scoops of ice cream."

"I see."

"So for an extra 14 cents I not only get two scoops of ice cream; but, I also get a root beer, whip cream, chocolate shavings and a cherry on top. That's a great deal, Mom."

The kid earned his root beer float for a well thought out argument and was lucky I had an extra 14 cents in my pocket. The girls dropped to the floor in protest and cried the "no fairs!" I've been trying to avoid. I can feel my powers decreasing. I'm in trouble, aren't I?