Leverage

LEVERAGE: strategic advantage; power to act effectively

I never understood how leverage could be used on a 12 year old... until I had one :) For example- while my daughter is pretty damned good, rarely giving me a reason to ground her, there are things that drive me CRAZY. One of those things is her inability to clean ANYTHING right. She is the half-assed queen.

But now I have leverage.

Leverage in the form of school dances, the internet, the T.V, stereo, friends, phone, etc. I have often told her that she is not entitled to a damned thing. That everything she has, or has access to, is a privilege. I have discovered leverage.

... And she is no longer the half-assed queen!