Don't do homework - relax and take it easy.

By Bad Dad on April 19, 2008 12:28 PM | Permalink

Does reverse psychology work with kids?

This morning I asked Jess to pass me a bill that had tumbled through the letterbox - why do they always come on Saturdays in time to wreck the weekend? - and she ignored me.

I asked her again and she said in a seven-year-old trainee teenager way "why don't you get up and get it?"

Then I said "Oh, don't worry Jess, I don't really want it now" ....It was in my hand in seconds.

Minutes later 14-year-old Nick wandered in from a sleepover at his mate's house.

His friend's dad had given Nick and Co strict instructions to stay up until the lad's 17-year-old brother got back from a night out on the town.

Nick and his mates were only too happy to oblige and stayed up 'til 1am, but then - possibly because the illicit side of their late night had been taken away - they slipped off to bed.

I might just give it a go...if I gather enough evidence that it's a ploy that won't rebound hideously on me.