Funding funnies

Image from Pacific Northwest National Lab

We are trying to train our young son to ask for things politely. However, recently he's learned to demand things in typical toddler diva fashion, i.e., "I want X!"

My husband, also an academic, started a game to train him out of this. Whenever our son said something like, "I want cheese!" my husband would reply, "I want funding!" or "I want a million dollars!" Just this week the boy started getting the hint, so as soon as he heard "I want a million dollars!" he would immediately reply with, "Can I please have some cheese?"

Recently they were playing pretend with some food, and my husband said something like, "I want juice" and without missing a beat my son shouted, "I want funding!"