Kids Are Manipulators

Lest anyone think it’s just my kids who like to exploit a situation for their own gain, I’ll relate this quick story about the boy’s friend. For the purposes of this post, I’ll refer to him as “the friend.” (I know, highly original.)

The boy spent the afternoon after their soccer game with the friend. They were both in pretty good spirits because they’d won their game. While over there, the friend and the boy wanted to play the Wii. There was just one problem, the friend had been banished from playing the Wii for the weekend because he’d hit his younger brother earlier that morning.

But the friend is persistent and creative so he decided to try and exploit the boy’s presence as a guest. He told his Dad that the boy “was bored and really wanted to play the Wii.”

The friend’s father was relating all of this to me and I just had to laugh. I’m pretty sure the boy has tried that tactic as well, with a similar result.

The result was surely not quite what the friend had hoped for. The boy and the friend’s younger brother were allowed to play the Wii for a time, but not the friend.