My two sons, age 13 and 6 (two dissertations between them!), have entered a phase where they are obsessed with making sure that the other one doesn't get more of anything construed as valuable (and each is sure that the other is getting more). It drives me bonkers since both of them, as well as my wife and I, have so much more than we deserve--in both a moral and global sense.
In addition to yelling at them about it, which always works so-o-o-o well, I've come up with a solution that I think will work instantly. When Child A complains that Child B (we really should name them one of these days) got more of "X", then we give Child B even more of "X". This should take care of things rather quickly, don't you think?
7 comments:
Good luck... let me know how that goes for you... seems like a can't miss... :-)
I agree with the previous comment. Plus, maybe you should video tape it and put it for sale on iTunes. I know that I'd pay $2 to SEE how this goes.
Update: Youngest child asked if oldest child had eaten *his* broccoli, at which point I doubled the youngest's portion of the green poison. Didn't hear another complaint the rest of the night...
Ah, but you're forgetting the possibility of a meta-game: Suppose they figure this out and collude to fake conflict, extract more goodies from you, and then split up the extra profits behind the scenes!
(P.S. Don't let them read your blog).
The funny thing is that this idea has already come up... that's why I get to choose whether to give the complainer something bad or the other something good...
Hmm...
Your little brother's suggestion, based on our history, is to have the 13 year old throw the 6 year old in the pool at points of dispute.
/just saying.
Let's just say that we're encouraging our oldest son to be a better big brother than his father was!
Post a Comment