How many of you out there are avid video gamers or have family members that spend majority of their time playing games? I keep no secrets as to my game of choice which happens to the Sims but mine is on the computer. Chris is a WOW fanatic and Jeff will play anything on any system.
Every year Jeff usually requests some type of video game or the next video game system. This year is no different. He has made his Christmas/Birthday list early. He is requesting a PS3 system. I will give the kid credit on being persistent but each year he makes the request I have to remind him that he has not shown enough self control to warrant such a purchase. This kid would play day and night if we did not set ground rules
Jeff for the most part takes on the attitude of how unfair we are to him. To which I reply that life in itself is unfair. Am I wrong? Maybe but I do not want my son to squander the rest of his life on being a couch potato gamer. It would be a whole different story if he was more responsible. Some may say that teenagers for the most part are irresponsible. I disagree. It's the parent's job to teach their children early on about responsibility and what is expected of them later on in life. That is why I stress the importance of succeeding in high school and going to college. My parents put a lot of responsibility on me as a teenager and to be honest well before that. They both worked and the job of making dinner and cleaning house fell on my shoulders. I may have felt it was unfair at the time but I am so damn appreciative of it now because it taught me to be self sufficient at an early age. By the time Jeff came along I was not in any way ill prepared. I worked my butt off to provide for him and had a clean house and nutritious meals for him. And I did it all by myself. Imagine that.
Now if Jeff wants to purchase all the stuff he wants then I say go for it but as long as you live under my roof there will be rules to follow. He argues with me on that point. His belief is that if he buys it with his own money than he should not be sanctioned on the time allotment of his game playing. Hence the reason he has not bought his own system yet. I don't play around and neither does his dad. Believe it or not but I am not the heavy hitter in the discipline department of the household. His dad is steadfast more so on this subject than I am. I am willing to give him time but his dad would actually like to see more self control on Jeff's part. We have tried to give Jeff the opportunity to prove his self control and he has failed every time. I don't know when the light bulb will finally go on his head but I sure as hell hope it's soon. He will be a senior this year and geez it would be so nice to know that he finally realizes that his parents do know a thing or two.
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