The War On Crying

My son has been putting up a bit of a fuss at bedtime. He likes to cry and whine when put to bed, because he would rather stay up and play.

I decided my approach to his bedtime was not working, so I turned to the government as a model.

I want to control crying in my child the same way the government wants to control a person's use of drugs, so I started "The War On Crying"

I passed a law in my house that crying is prohibited between then hours of 7 pm and 6 am. I told this to my son, but he still cried at his bedtime (which is 7 pm). I explained to him that the punishment for breaking the law is that he won't get dessert tomorrow after dinner.

He stilled cried, but the War On Crying is working, I just need to try harder.

So I pass a law banning crying between 6 pm and 7 am, and I also make it illegal to cry at anytime above 80 decibels. I also increase the penalty so instead of just losing dessert, I take away his bedtime toy.

He still cried, so I took his toy away and he cried even harder. The War On Crying must be working, I just need to try harder.

I decided that even letting him cry during the day was setting a bad example, so I passed a law banning all crying. Yes this will definitely work, my son will get the message now, and if he doesn't I just take away more toys and privileges.

To my amazement, he still cried. So I had no choice but to take away toy after toy and stop letting him have any treats or desserts. I don't understand this, but this just made him cry more and more.

Where did I go wrong? I made the laws harsher, I made the punishment worse, but my son still cried.

It's almost as if you can't change someone's behavior by passing laws, but that can't be true.

Why would we waste our time with a War On Drugs if  it didn't work?