My 7 year old son, the master negotiator (in training)

My son Gabriel is a legit video game addict. Perhaps it’s an escape for him from the constant drama between his parents. Or maybe he just is prone to enjoy video games over other things kids like.

Whatever the case may be, he’s always playing his Switch, or his iPad, but he loves nothing more than playing the few games he’s downloaded on his dad’s iPhone. That’s a special treat, and he’s constantly hounding me to play on my iPhone.

It’s kind of concerning as a parent. I admit I played my share of Super Mario Bros. and Frogger when I was his age, and depending on who you ask, I turned out okay. But one mustn’t allow the boy to think there’s nothing more to life than video games.

Well, I found something that might be a solution to this dilemma, and how long it retains its efficacy is TBD.

I took him to the public library after school the other day because I still had a bit of work yet to do, and since I didn’t want him to gratuitously play on the iPhone for the 2 hours I worked, I made him a deal:

Read one book, and you’ll earn 15 minutes on the iPhone.

So off he went to the kids’ section of the library, and a few minutes later he’s got 3 books in his arms.

He finishes one book, and it’s time to pay up.

“Alright kiddo. You sure you don’t want to read two books and earn 30 minutes?”

“Yep, I want 15 minutes now.”

“Alright, here you go, and I’ll give you a two minute warning.”

I get lost in my work, and realize that 20 minutes has passed….

“Okay kiddo, time to read another book.”

“But you didn’t give me a 2 minute warning.”

“Yeah, but over 15 minutes has passed.”

“But you didn’t give me a 2 minute warning like you said you would.”

A man’s got to honor his word. So he gets on or about SEVEN additional minutes after I graciously tacked on the additional 2 minutes.

On and on it went while I was finishing my work, and truth be told, the boy enjoyed it. Kids always enjoy being challenged, and of course he needs to give an oral report on the book before he gets the reward. No way is the old man going to just give it to him without proving he’s done the work.

Score one for Dad in this instance, but give credit where it’s due. The kid knows how to get what he wants – and has learned how to do so with a straight face, not stomping and screaming, just keeping his cool and sticking to the task at hand, which is playing some flight sim game on his father’s iPhone, until the objective is complete.

Sometimes my son is the best teacher I have.