My exhaustion of hearing about the HP of every Pokemon ever created can be a heavy burden. And I grow weary of hearing the difference between GX and EX and Ultra and Mega and X. I languish from my child asking me for eBay searches and Amazon browsing for more and more and more Pokemon cards.
But oh.
The power one wields when a child of questionable temperament falls hopelessly and completely in obsession with something is indeed a very, very effective power.
It is worth every banal conversation. Every. Last. One. Of. Them.
Noah is not a people pleaser like his sister before him. So I must find new and creative ways to constantly encourage him in the way he should go. Some things work, some things don’t. But nothing – NOTHING – nothing in the creation of everything has worked as blazingly efficiently as Pokemon Cards.
The first use that made my eyes light up with the power I now held had to do with dirty plates.
Noah has never, not once, picked up his dirty lunch plate or snack napkin or gummy wrapper and put them away without being told to do so.
No matter how many times I tried to tell him he needed to do it without me telling him, or offering him tickets to help him remember, or threatening consequences if he didn’t remember – it literally did not matter. He would not, could not remember to pick up his trash.
But then one day I told him if you don’t pick up your trash, I will take away two Pokemon cards. And the next day he didn’t pick up his trash. And I don’t think he had even conceived of how cruel I could possibly be until that moment. When I told him to go get his Pokemon book and I thumbed through, looking specifically for the cards he talked about the most.
I took two of his most precious cards. His Jumbo Snorlax GX and his Mega Charizard.
He cried. And cried. And cried some more. There is no possible way that he will cry so many tears of grief when I die. He used all his tears on Snorey and Charz.
Since that day, at least a month ago, he has not left a single plate or piece of trash out after consuming food. Not one. He went from a .000 batting average to a 1.000. And, for the record, the consequences weren’t even permanent. I sprung Snorlax and Charizard from the slammer after a couple of days for good behavior, with the dire warning that next time, they would find a permanent home swimming with the fishies in the septic tank.
(Before we continue, I need to say something to Chris. No, dear, if you’re reading this, I would never *actually* flush Pokemon cards down the toilet. I know how you coddle our septic tank as if it were a colicky newborn baby. But I must add an appropriate amount of drama to my threats to be the loving, effective mother that you desire me to be.)
My second brilliantly evil use of Pokemon cards was to get my daily dose of exercise. I’d bought two junk boxes of random Pokemon cards off of Amazon a while back to use as prizes. I had so far used them as rewards in mental math contests between my children (turns out Noah is really good up in his head with math and can nearly compete with his four-year-older sister – when appropriately motivated), so I invented the most genius exercise game ever created for kids. WAY better than Nintendo Wii.
Pokemon Run.
For every quarter mile you run without stopping* or complaining, you earn one Pokemon card.
* Up to five second walk breaks were permissable for road crossings and side stitches and such.
For every continuous mile you run, you get two bonus Pokemon cards, bringing the potential total Pokemon cards up to six earnable per mile.
I explained the rules to the kids. Noah shivered with excitement. Ali, who also enjoys Pokemon cards but doesn’t need as much motivation as her brother, was also excited to get something for something she’d do anyway. And probably secretly relished the opportunity to earn more than her brother, but she’s a people pleaser. She’d never say so.
The run was every bit as magical as I’d hoped.
Noah is usually complaining just for his own personal entertainment at the .2 mile mark. But this run, there was no complaining. None at all. The kid even got a wretched side stitch and DID NOT WHINE. He was leaning over while running, cramming his hand into his side, BECAUSE HE NEEDED THAT LAST POKEMON CARD.
Ali earned 19 cards. Noah earned 12. And they were both thrilled and freaking thankful that I had taken them on such an amazing run. And begged to have another one soon.
There is nothing like finding the currency that motivates a child. It’s as if I truly finally am in charge of my situation. I use Pokemon cards like they grow on trees now, and it’s worth every penny of all the money I send to Amazon.
So, mothers. So, fathers. I urge you. Find your currency.
Find it soon.
And treasure it with all your might.
How I wish I had done things like this when my girls were younger as this is awesome but my girls are teenagers now, 15 and 13, and I don’t think there is a thing in the world that will motivate them. Last week we finally took away their allowance because my husband and I got tired of telling them to do their chores, then having to call them back to to do it again because it wasn’t done properly the first time.
I am hoping that having to hear me say no when they want something enough times will finally motivate them to do a better job ,but I am not holding my breath.
My oldest has her learners permit and once she actually gets her DL I do plan on using it as my motivating tool to get her to do things; if it will work.
Have you tried Pokémon Go? Then they get virtual miles for the actual miles they run so they can hatch eggs and get candy. And it’s free!
I asked the mom in the checkout lane ahead of me last night what her secret was. Her two children were sitting like angels in the cart. She quickly grabbed a container of sprinkles (like for cupcakes) from the conveyor belt and said “This.” I thought she was kidding at first, like she was showing me her magic potion. But she was serious. She proceeded to tell me that she gave the girls a couple sprinkles from a fancy container she picked up on the baking aisle when they started shopping and told them if they were good they’d get to have them all when they got home. She turned to one of them and said, “You want these, don’t you?” The little girl just nodded with a gentle “Mmm hmm.” She told me it doesn’t always work…. and it’s not always sprinkles, but most of the time it does.
I need to find some better currency. So far all I have is iPad time.
Gearmo that”s not a bad thing? The whole idea of Pokemon is that you run around an open area and catch Pokemon, right? Perfectly suited for open world. Also trust the devs. They know what they”re doing.