There was a particular moment of genius in the movie Bolt that I didn’t recognize for its worth until recently. I can’t recall the exact details, but it involves the slimey agent for Penny. Bolt has long since disappeared and the agent is trying to convince her that it’s not a big deal, but it obviously is to Penny. Finally, when Penny has more or less outthought the agent he hold up his hands, and says “Whoa, whoa whoa. I’ll tell you what we’ll do. We’re going to take that thought and…” At this point, he makes a motion like he has a Post-It between his fingers, raises his hands in the air and then makes like he’s sticking it to a cork board with a pin. He finishes with the flourish “…put a pin in it right there. And we’ll come back to it later.”
The argument ends at that point, with stupefied looks on both Penny and her Mother’s face.
In a moment of inspiration, under similar circumstances, I used his on the lass and it completely stopped her in her tracks. She knew exactly where I’d gotten it from, and she didn’t like it, but the argument ended. Plus, it turned the dynamics of the argument on its head because now she was trying not to laugh. I’ve since used it with the boy as well, with similar results.
No word yet on how it works with wives. But I’ll post as soon as I know…