Its not that it doesn’t happen. It’s just never happened like this.
Today Big, age 6, acted about age 12. He reminded me of the time when I was 16 and pitched my parents on the need to buy me a Geo Tracker. (It even sounds like a toy now, doesn’t it?!) Big wanted to join Club Penguin.
Apparently, on Friday, he succeeded in defeating Sensei, a big guru penguin on the popular children’s community and games website, owned by Disney. According to Big, once you defeat Sensei, you become a Ninja, and your next step is to become a Fire Ninja, but you can’t do that unless you’re a member. And membership costs $5.95 per month.
Asking me about membership Friday, I already knew my answer was “no”, but explained that he’d need to discuss it with the Huz and me, together. And so, on Sunday, he apporached us. He was ready to go with a full-on pitch. He started out explaining what he’s learned on Club Penguin. Then he went on to tell us about reaching Ninja-status, how important this was to him, and how much he wanted to continue.
While he didn’t have the posterboards that I had describing my finances and how I planned to pay back a loan from my parents, should they purchase the Tracker for me, he did offer, twice, to pay with his own money. And while we do allow him spending money and offer him the ability to make his own choices for spending his own money, membership to Club Penguin requires parental permission, and we weren’t buying his paying the $5.95 per month, for a year. In fact, when we helped him to figure that the cost would be over $70 a year, he paused. I’m sure he considered the LEGO toy he could get in place of membership.
Still, he persisted. He continued to calmly explain how much he wanted to play. But where he got stuck was when I asked him what else he does at Club Penguin, besides the karate-style game (which is really just a dressed up rock-papers-scissors game); I’ve watched him play. I’ve seen him take care of Puffles (the penguin pets you can adopt). I’ve watched him interact with other penguins. He reads the comments and directions on the screen. Had he cited these particulars I may have been encouraged that he is getting something out of the website, but he couldn’t get past the karate game. He couldn’t get past the fact that he wanted to move up in the game to another level.
It wasn’t enough. We calmly complemented his drive, motivation and thorough pitch. But membership to Club Penguin, we decided, isn’t worth the money right now. The kids have enough toys, enough games, enough electronics. And, I pointed out, there are plenty of other websites he’ll enjoy just as much, if not more, that are free. We just haven’t found them yet.
Big wasn’t happy. He moped a bit. But he understood that we weren’t going to change our opinions on this one, and that there are other things more worth the energy.
Today he played the free area of Club Penguin. And then he asked me to find a different website that he could explore. Then he forgot about Club Penguin as he played Magic Tree House’s webpage. We’ll see what else there is to explore tomorrow.
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© 2010, Julie Meyers Pron. All rights reserved.
Twitter: centsiblelife
says:
Love this post! First, you are awesome parents, and second Big is so enterprising.