Playing games is just...

...a pain in the ass.

My 15 year old is a game player. He pushes the boundaries more than anyone else in the family. He's the one who can drive me around the bend in about half a second. He knows what buttons to push to send me off the deep end. My other two reap the benefits of this talent of his.

For example, we have a rule on school nights. All electronics come downstairs to be plugged in and charged over night. This is so that they're not staying up all night on Facebook, text, video chat, etc. I think it's a good rule. He thinks I am idiot.

Last night he came downstairs right before bed to take his night time meds and "get a sweatshirt." Mind you, he's going up to his bedroom, where all of his clothes are, to go to sleep. I'm not a genius, but I knew what was happening. I said, "Where's your phone?"

"It's supposed to be plugged in charging." (Nice word play there so it's not exactly a lie, but not the whole truth)

I went upstairs about 5 minutes later, unplugged his earbuds and brought the phone downstairs. He pretended to be sleeping, because he knew there would be a fight if he was awake.

Fast forward to this morning. He's ready for school and says, "Mom, where's my phone?"

"It's supposed to be plugged in charging." (Touché I think, very proud of myself)

"It's not here! Come on, Mom! Where's my phone?!"

"Well, since you wanted to play games with me, I decided to play a game with you. Fun, huh?"

"No."

He sat on the couch and pouted, without his phone.

He got ready to walk out the door to school and I gave him his phone. "You know what's going to happen next time you decide to play a game like this right?"

"I'll get grounded."

"Yup. Have a good day at school. Love you!"

"Love you too, Mom."

Sadly, it won't be the last time, but at least the next time he'll think twice.

Although, I enjoyed my portion of the game.

~Kim