Reasonable

Michael is a (relatively) reasonable child. At least as much as one can expect from an individual under the age of 2.

He loves playing with our iPad. There are all sorts of great games on iPad for toddlers. Baby piano, Learn English, Learn Cantonese, storybooks, toy boxes, all sorts of great stuff.

He even likes non-children games like Angry Birds (he flings the birds backwards i.e. toward the left side of the screen more often than not) and Plants vs. Zombies (he just knows how to collect the sunshine).

Well, here's why I think he's relatively reasonable. If me or my wife suddenly decide he's played too much iPad and just say "you've played enough" and take it away, he gets upset.

However, if I look at the clock and tell him "Michael, you've got 10 minutes" ... then "5 minutes" ... "3 minutes" ... "2 minutes" ... "1 minute" ... "OKAY ALL DONE!" I can take away the iPad at that point and he doesn't cry or throw a tantrum. He just repeats "all done".

I guess that's fair, that he'd like some sort of advanced warning and countdown without one of the parental units abruptly pulling the plug on his iPad usage.

I've found the same sort of thing works when he's taking a bath. It's harder when we're giving him a bath since we don't have a clock in the bathroom (so I just have to guess at what 5 minutes is). I try to be fair and accurate, but I guess "close enough" works, since I don't think he has a strong concept of time yet. When he's a bit older and he realizes there's no clock in the bathroom, I'm sure he'll call me out on my definition of "5 minutes", but until then it works.

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