Last evening, I was trying to get my 7 year old son for his evening bath. Like most 7 year olds, his priorities were elsewhere – on his Nerf gun…on the paper planes he has made…basically on everything else besides a bawling dad who wants him for a bath.
Most parents have options in such situations – bawl even more, lose patience and shout the heck out of that child (trust me, it happens – parenting is an exercise in mastering your patience). Or, incentivize the ‘get here for your bath’ task so that you give something to him to make him come fast. I usually end up incentivizing small things – an extra page of Harry Potter for his bedtime story…a new toy…Pizza at Papa Johns (he loves it!) in the weekend and so on.
I was frankly tired of those incentives – they really felt like bribing the child. And I had to think fast at that time – I was late for a call and I had to get this kid clean right away.
That was when a thought stuck me!
First, I shouted out that I had ‘something for him’. That’s simply the hook – it always works with most children – you don’t need to say what you have – just the announcement that you have something gets them interested.
As I had guessed, he came running into the bathroom and asked me what I had for him! He is usually used to the things I listed above…but I told him I had something very special for him. By now, he was incredibly curious and there are very few things in this world as annoying as a curious child. So, I gave him something to mull on – ‘I have a brand new, fantastic song for you!’, I told him.
He was stumped. He’s not used to a song as bribe, but I know he likes music even though he lacks the patience to sit through even a 5 minute song like most hyperactive 7 year olds. He has, in the past, shown tremendous interest in certain songs and in one of our long drives out of the city, he even made us play his favorite song about 150 times – yes, 150, I’m not joking. Back to back, that too.
So, the tactic worked. To make it special, I told him that I’m going to play that special song through in-ear phones so that he can enjoy it even better. He was beaming ear-to-ear by now. Bath over…I played him the song via in-ear phones and was watching his face display an ecstatic range of emotions – I guess he loved the song!
This is amazing – really. Here I am, a passionate music blogger…people trust my reviews and listen to new songs. I listen to at least one or two soundtracks every single day. So, why haven’t I put this to better use? Now I am doing it, I suppose.
It helps that I listen to so much music – I’m sure most of us do. It also helps that my son is reasonably interested in music, even for a severely distracted 7 year old. And this is a great way to introduce music (I won’t say good, but just those I feel are good – his tastes may evolve, eventually – but again, my taste in music evolved from the songs my dad played when I was a kid…so there!). And, think about it – I can do this again and again, with newer songs/music.
What really worked more than just the idea of using new music to incentivize kids was the way I piqued his curiosity – that is classic PR at work, if I say so myself. I literally built the hype on the song I was going to play for him. I also added to it by saying that I’m going to play that to him using in-ear phones, something that he has been eyeing for quite some time.
Photo by doug88888, via Flickr.
PS: Your mileage may vary, depending on how soon kids get an iPod in your country/culture 🙂