washingtonmonthly.com – When my two boys were little, they’d get into fights in the back seat of the car over minor issues that seemed cataclysmic to them. So we’d play a game called, “Big Problem or Little Problem?” It would start with them describing the heinous act by Boy 1 that had caused Boy 2 to shriek.

“He ate more of the chocolate than I did!”“Ok, that’s a problem,” I’d say. “Now what about this: What if your eyeballs exploded and eyeball juice blinded mom as she was driving? Big problem or little problem?”

“Big problem!” I went through a few absurd examples and then asked, “Ok, him having some of your chocolate: big problem or little problem?” By then they were laughing hysterically and, while one of them would usually still answer ‘big problem’ to the final question, they had put the chocolate-crime in some perspective.

Steven Waldman