Posts Tagged ‘artificial flocked christmas tree’

All my kids talk about getting every year for Christmas is video games if they don’t go downstairs and find Gears of War 2 under our new flocked christmas tree I do not know how they will survive. This drives me a little crazy since I like to encourage my kids to go outside. I would prefer to get them something like new football equipment or bikes, really anything they can do outside. Alas, I suppose boys will be boys. Arguing with the boys over “appropriate” lengths of time is just too much work.

That being said I’ve tried to find some tricks for my family and video games. With a few techniques I try to get them outside more. The first way I try to accomplish my goal is by limiting time that can be spent in front of them television to only one hour per day. I have discovered that limiting the time is key to everything else because then they know time above and beyond that is to be earned. To be more fair I’ve allowed them some methods of earning more television time. That leads me into my second trick. They have a few options to earn more television time, either playing outside or doing some chores for me. I like the chores option because it is nice for me to have a few less things to do, and the reward for them isn’t bad either. I set it up so it ends with one hour of chores earning one hour of television time.

The second way they earn time, by going outside, is a little less rewarding. When they go outside and play nice I allow them 15 minutes of gaming to every hour of outside time. Like I say this isn’t a huge payoff, but I also don’t really think asking them to be outside is a huge thing to ask. This mostly pays off for them on weekends. They spend all day outside on Saturdays and earn themselves a couple of hours in front of the television. I do not even mind if they play a night of video games after a good day outside.

Anyway I guess that I don’t mind a game or two under the artificial flocked christmas tree this year , that is if it allows for the positives of getting the boys outside and making them a little more obedient. They had better like the games they’re getting, because I know I’ll like my “gift” of one more thing to use “against” my boys.