That said, parenting philosophy is one thing, life is another. At Pixie’s two-year-old development checkup, the nurse brought out a box of toys to assess his cognitive skills. Pixie promptly unpacked it all. Once it was established that he was well on track developmentally, the nurse asked him to pack the toys away; Pixie would not hear of it. I told him in Hungarian that after he packed away, we’d go for ice cream: he immediately sprung to action and delivered the most focussed packing job the nurse has ever seen. After expressing her amazement she asked me what I’d said…