At our house there has been an on-going battle for years. It is called "Who's turn is it?!" It's usual battle cries include, "I'm not done!", "You've been playing for hours!", and "Let me finish this one thing.".
Let me start by voicing my frustration about this. The battles get nasty mean and usually end up with me stepping in and trying to figure it out. I don't like listening to two of my favorite people hate on each other like that. It gets on my nerves. It's like listening having the TV on "Jerry Springer" all day long. It's not like this all the time though. It's just that we have a new game that both are very interested in playing right now.
I didn't want to step in and force a playing time schedule. I really wanted them to work it out between the two of them. In fact, I have helped them set up such a schedule, but it ended in more battles because our life is not scheduled that much. One would get up early and play before the other got up. That time wasn't on the schedule they planned and so it didn't count. Or one would think the other was playing on his time. Or one didn't really want to play at that hour because he was doing something else. On and on it goes.
We've spent a lot of time working out who's turn it is and it's never satisfactory for either of them. One person goes away angry every time and it's sometimes me. And then I through the gauntlet down and turn it off the rest of the day, which breeds anger and resentment on all three sides. Ugg.
So yesterday, my step-mom (in her infinite wisdom) suggests a timer. I scoff at that, of course. My infinite wisdom of "mom extraordinaire" is way beyond such simple ideas as a timer! But then I slept on it and woke up with the brilliant idea of a timer.
Today we will try it. When one starts playing, we will start a timer. If the other comes into the room and wants to play and it has been more than an hour since the other started playing, then we will immediately get to the next save point and surrender the controller. If it's less than an hour, then they can continue to play until that point and then surrender the controller. I will be more involved because I need to be sure the timer is started and I'll be there watching for the save because they do tend to try "one more thing", not out of maliciousness but curiosity. It's really hard not to turn the page of my book at a really good part, even though I promised myself one more chapter and then I would finish the dishes and start dinner. I understand. But we made a commitment and we have to honor that.
My unschooling friends may suggest two TVs and XBoxes, but that just can't happen in our little house. We just need to learn to share politely and kindly and look forward to the day we have a house of our own and don't have to share a single thing...until we get married and have children of our own who hog the XBox all day and won't let you get a single level of "Michael Jackson Experience" in edgewise!
