Family negotiation

[resonant]

The kidlet is writing another novel. This is very lovely, but the kidlet doesn't have a computer, and I can't afford to buy one just now.

The other day, before leaving for work, I said, "I need more access to my own computer. See what kind of division you can propose."

Later I got this e-mail. (These days I'm getting permission to quote the kidlet here!)

I get the computer from the time you leave until you get home and from 7:30 to 8 in the evening. You get the computer in the morning before you leave and in the afternoon until you start on dinner, during which time I'll probably be doing the chores you left which I didn't do because I was on the computer all morning. I get the computer while you're cooking if you're cooking. You get the computer at 8 and may retain it until you cease to be functional, succeeding which I may use the computer as long as you don't know about it, I am fully functional the next day, and the battery isn't dead, in which case you may revoke my nighttime privileges.

Comments

[jelazakazone]

O. My. God. She's amazing.

[resonant]

She's something else, all right. You look at kids sometimes and think, in amazement, "I remember when that did not even exist on this earth!"

[libitina]

sounds legit

[resonant]

I had not been aware that she was getting up in the night to use the computer until one day she forgot to go to bed, stayed up until sunrise, and then slept all day long. I think that would come under the category of 'not functional the next day.'

[laurashapiro]

Oh yeah, she's a writer, all right.

[resonant]

Poor thing -- given who her parents are it was almost her inevitable fate.

She's a nuSpock fangirl, too.

[carolyn_claire]

There's a future lawyer.

[fanofall]

IAWTC.

[resonant]

I wish, then, that her future self would come back in time and pay for her present self's technology.

[giglet]

That last sentence is remarkably reality-based!

Also, nary a word about instances when the muse strikes, nor when the muse goes on strike. I'm impressed.

[resonant]

She doesn't seem to suffer from writers' block yet. On the other hand, she starts ten projects for every one she finishes, which makes me feel a little better about my own work ethic, until I remember that I'm more than three times her age.

[fullygoldy]

I wish my kids had negotiated that way. Of course, they'd have had me eating out of their hands if they had.

[resonant]

Exactly! I mean, I read this and thought, "Sounds good," and then I thought, "Hey, wait, I've just said it's OK with me if my kid is up in the wee hours of the morning on the computer, as long as I can't tell the next day!"

[tevere]

The kidlet is a better and clearer negotiator than most people at my office.

[resonant]

Mine, too!

[riverlight]

"succeeding which"—I love it. I was nowhere near that eloquent at her age, that's for damn sure.

[resonant]

I'm afraid that, due to what amuses us, we've tended to reward a certain kind of humorous smart-assery. So far she's apparently been able to rein in the tendency when she isn't at home, or else her teachers find it as charming as we do.

[cathalin]

Omggg. The combination of humor, honesty and stone-cold lawyering is priceless.

Are you going to email her back in the same vein? :D You can ask her to write a "definitions" section to precede the rest of it. Ex: what is "fully functional," ahaha.

<3

[panisdead]

The combination of humor, honesty and stone-cold lawyering is priceless.

YES. This is great.

[azurelunatic]

She is amazing.

[resonant]

Naturally I think so, but I'm always happy to persuade others to share the opinion.

[sara]

...I've had less-reasonable offers from my children.

[resonant]

It's amazing, the difference between the kind of division of resources you get if you just let a kid do what she wants and the kind of division of resources you get if you say, "Make me a proposal."

I doubt the magic will last all the way through high school, but I can enjoy it for the moment.

[northern]

Excellently put!

[resonant]

She's a writer whether she wants to be or not, I'm afraid.

[copracat]

Definitely yours.

[resonant]

Me, plus a dad who used to discourage her from wandering downstairs after lights-out by telling her that if she stayed downstairs she was going to have to listen to Heidegger read out loud.

[kass]

Your kidlet is totally charming. <3

[resonant]

She certainly has me charmed; she gets pretty much anything she wants from me. (Except her own computer, alas.)

[toft]

Ha! She's great.

[resonant]

She's endlessly entertaining.

[elynross]

Utterly. Fantastic. I am without words at how smart and clever and quick (and funny!) she is!

[resonant]

I always love to persuade other people to gawk at my kid!

[norah]

<3 <3 <3

[resonant]

The entertainment value of a kid is not to be underestimated.

[myalexandria]

You interested in a computer for her? Long story, but I have a spare (elderly, could die at any moment, although so far it's doing fine) Macbook Air that I don't really know what to do with. Happy to send it to you for cost of shipping.

[resonant]

I really wish I could show you the big-eyed, suppressed-grinning look she's giving me! Yes, we would love to have that -- let me know what shipping is and we'll paypal it to you or send you a check, as you prefer.

She'd probably write you a poem, too, if you want.

[auctasinistra]

You get the computer at 8 and may retain it until you cease to be functional, succeeding which I may use the computer as long as you don't know about it, I am fully functional the next day, and the battery isn't dead, in which case you may revoke my nighttime privileges.

How old is she again???

[resonant]

She's 14! But this is a kid who (according to the spouse's memory) woke him up from a nap once when she was about 4 reciting Melville's "The Maldive Shark" from memory. "Pale wavener of howwible meat."