The Truth

So, Connor has been struggling at basketball games. Can't sit on the bench. Wants to dribble the ball all the time. Wants a million drinks of water. And it has been driving his Coach (Dad) nuts. So, last week I made him a deal. Without Coach knowing about the deal, if he came home and told me that Connor had a great basketball game--that he sat still and listened, etc.--he could get Lego Star Wars for his Wii. Guess what? Great game. Like they say, people respond to incentives. But you can never be sure what the consequences of those incentives may be.

We've had the Wii for a year and its never really been a big deal. However, Lego Star Wars has changed everything. Its all we hear about these days. General Grievous. The Wookies. Defeat. Triumph. Friends who know the game better are bodily dragged here by Connor to help him learn and get through levels. Its an obsession. A sweaty obsession because he's jumping around the living room for hours.

At the same time, Bob has started to be interested in some computer games again after not playing any for years. Its a perfect storm of lack of productivity and happiness.

So, I'm on the computer this morning when Connor woke up at 6:30am and we have an interchange about the fact that he can't play Wii until he does two pages from his math pack. He brings it in and fires through the arithmetic in record time with no mistakes (meanwhile, his teacher would say that he bitched about it and took him 23 minutes). Then, he prepares to attack Darth. But before he leaves the office:

C: Mom, you better finish what you're doing on the computer.
D: Why?
C: Because Dad will be up sooon.
D: So?
C: Well, he's going to make you move so that he can play "Bioshock".
D: I don't think he's playing that too much today. We have alot to do.
C: Ummm. Yes he is.
D: How do you know?
C: Because, Mom, me and Dad, we're the same. We're about the games. And we're lazy.

You said it, kiddo. Not me.