"Dad, you don't have to think about it, okay?"

Before dinner I was taking some dirty clothes from work down to the laundry room. Madge followed me down and discovered some chocolate treats down there. (We use the laundry room for a storage room of sorts for all the things that don't fit in the kitchen and other misfits.) She asked me if she could have one. I told her that she would have to check with Mom. (Yeah: a bit of a cop-out on my part, but I also didn't have the context of Madge's sugar intake for the day.) As I walked up the stairs, I heard Madge asking Mares for a treat. Mares told her that she would think about it. I then heard that Madge didn't have much of a nap. That prompted me to retort to Madge that perhaps she shouldn't have a treat and that I would have to think about the treat now. In complete seriousness, she told me matter-of-factually, "Dad, you don't have to think about it, okay? Mom is already thinking about it." It was as if she thought she had better odds with Mares thinking about it as opposed to me! Probably true, but I glanced at Mares and we both shared the silent chuckle that parents share. We love you, Maddy. As you correctly recognize: sometimes you get treats and sometimes you don't.