Choices are better. Gives both people some amount of control over what happens. Yes is so open-ended

Wow, so that's a hit? Sometimes I'm so glad I don't watch a lot of television. It sounds like a ridiculous premise for a kid's Saturday morning show, where they supposedly learn the lesson of money not buying happiness while the parents learn to spend more time with their children. Old theme/new show.

I was a widowed working mother doing it all on her own, raising a daughter in an area where her school friends regularly went on international trips, ate out multiple times a week, and had the latest technology to play with, all things which I couldn't afford. So she already knew kids who lived "yes" days. I'm not sure if that affected the way I raised her, but I was always frank (without being scary) and we discussed things. I explained the "why" and never shirked her questions. Some things weren't negotiable, some were. I think it helped her become an intelligent, logical, compassionate, and responsible adult.

You seem to have done similarly with Claire, and I commend you for it. It's sometimes hard to do in a world that produces shows like that!

We did that in the Army, too.

"What color boots do you want, private? Black, or black? The green shirt, or the green shirt?" No conflict at 'tall.