Parenting Tricks - courtesy of Roald Dahl

This winter Malcolm read (listened to Mommy and Daddy read) his first chapter book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  He loved it and we finished in a week.  Ever since that time Malcolm, in his usual style, will state random facts, or ask questions to which he already knows the answer.  We get a lot of 'Why?' questions; Why did Agustus Gloop go up the pipe?  Why did Veruca Salt go down the chute?  etc.  The unexpected up shoot is that the story introduces (in a playful manner) greed, listening, rudeness, patience,  and the consequences.  When Malcolm starts demanding things, we will return with, "you don't want to be like Veruca Salt do you?"