I tricked my kids and it worked

Yesterday I tricked my kids. I like to think of it as creative convincing! 

A bit of Backstory: My younger son likes to pretend to be Mario. He'll run around yelling "I'm Mario! Hiya!" He will then speak in third person the entire time. "Mario wants cereal and milk." 

Yesterday I told him to go upstairs and get a ball to play with...he responded that he was too scared and wanted me to come with him.  

My response? "Just turn into Mario! He's super brave! He beats up bad guys!!" 

After a couple of minutes of him being unsure he turned to me and said, "I'm going to turn myself into Mario!" He pretended to press a button on his chest and then exclaimed, "Me BIG MARIO! Hi-yah!" As he ran upstairs (no longer afraid) his brother yelled after him "Yeah! You're brave Mario!" 

The ball was retrieved with no problems. 

My other creative moment came with my older son. 

He's been breaking styrofoam lately. I don't mind. It's easy to clean up and it's a cheap way to get his destructive urges out. 

However, last night it was everywhere and I'm hosting Thanksgiving...

So I asked him "How many of those pieces can you fit in the trash can?"

Him: "Hmm. Twenty!"

Me: "You really think 20 is going to fit? Prove it!" 

He then proceeded to pick up 20 pieces and throw them in the trash. After that he did 10 more because "there was still room." 

No begging or threatening on my part. Just an appeal to his competitive side. 

Creative Convincing. BAM.