When we are parents, we suddenly realize the existence of hundreds of children's recreational machines arranged in the street every 50 or 100 meters at the gates of various businesses.
They have always been there, but it is when your child rides one after another when you realize that the chosen path is not the best if that day you are in a little hurry.
At first there is not much problem if time does not press, however when they realize that, with a coin of one euro, the car, rabbit, fire truck, horse, ... moves and makes noise, they start asking for a Currency in each device.
In my four years of experience as a patient father with recreational children I have seen very varied techniques to avoid leaving your salary on three walks in the street. That's why today I will explain what to do and what not to do when you don't want to put a coin in children's playgrounds.
No, I don't have money
This is one of the most famous phrases that fathers and mothers use as an excuse not to put a coin: “No, I don't have money". Sometimes it could be valid, if it's true. The problem comes when we say we have no money and then we go through the bakery, for example, and drop one or two coins.
When they are young they don't find out much, but when they are a little older they are very able to realize that Dad has told him that he had no money when minutes later he is taking it out of his wallet.
In addition, the fact of not having money is usually more or less isolated. One day it may be true that you do not have money, but many other days you will have and then you will have to use another excuse.
No, if it is broken
This is another of the most used phrases (at least it is one of the ones I have heard most). It also usually works because the child really thinks the machine is broken.
The problem is that there is often another child waiting to ride with a father or grandfather willing to put a coin and, the moment your child sees that he is not broken, he realizes that you have lied to him (or he tells you that you were wrong, that he is not broken and that he will ride afterwards).
Be honest
After two options based on the lie, quite dangerous because our lantern can be easily discovered, comes the most honest option in the relationship between parents and children: be honest.
This option is the one I use, basically, because I don't like lying to my son. I personally do not find it too funny to put 1 euro in one of these children's recreational machines in exchange for 3 trips, because it seems to me an absolutely abusive price for 5 minutes of swings and noises (with 1 euro you pay 1 liter of gasoline, which gives for about 12 km ... that does give for three trips within the city).
What I mean is that being honest contemplates telling him (at least in my case): “Honey, if we put coins in these cars we won't have money to buy other things like food, water, stories or toys and I prefer to buy you these things… ”And it has always worked for me (although I have to say that my son has always been quite conformist when you reason things and yes, from time to time we buy him a story or a toy because we feel like it, I guess because he never gave it to us asks).
Being honest can work or it can cause the child's anger: If we tell you that we have no money, you can understand that we have no coins and of course, without money, there is no movement. If we tell you that it is broken, even if we put money, it would not work. But if we tell him that we have money but that we are not going to put it because it is for other things you are telling him, in short, that you cannot have fun on the machine because you do not want to.
In this case, that is, if telling the truth generates rejection and anger, everyone must decide which path to take. The easy way would be to give in and give him the coin. This It could be considered a failure or not, depending on each parent-child relationship.
There are children who perfectly accept a no (or several), when occasionally there is a yes. That is, you do not have to miss the original message of "I do not like to put money here because I prefer to spend it on other things" because once in a while you end up putting a coin.
However, there are other children who do not want to hear a no and, therefore, are not understanding the message we are trying to convey to them (they may be too young to understand, everything must be taken into account). In these children, it might be appropriate to show him that we understand him and to continue explaining the reason for our denial: "Honey, I know that you are angry because you want to get on the machine, but Dad does not want to put a coin because we will not have money for other things" .
This is not a method that causes the child to stop complaining, but rather It shows you that you understand his anger and discomfort and that there is a reason not to do so.
Replace or look for alternatives
This last strategy is useful in case our reasons are not enough and the child keeps asking for a coin and the situation starts to get caught in a “you say yes, but I say no”, in which you don't usually get anywhere .
The idea is replace the desire to ride the machine with something else that you might like to do. This requires the imagination of the parents to find alternatives that can satisfy the child and make him think of something else.
What usually works are games. From promoting a career to the next corner, to offering the possibility of singing a song that you like while we continue walking.
It can also work to get into the skin of some character and, therefore, make him do it too. For this in particular I have never had to do it, but on other occasions I have. It is to put the voice of Vicky the Viking's father and say: “Come Jon, son, we are going to do this, that we have to go rowing the boat and we are not going to get there” and then he puts himself in Vicky's skin and tells me : "Yes, dad, let's go!"
Summarizing
As you see there are alternatives to lies when we don't want to put a coin in children's playgrounds. Everything is to give a little imagination to the matter according to the preferences and tastes of each child and look for other options that can satisfy him or speak to him, according to his pace of maturation, from sincerity.
A liar is caught before a lame, so it is better to avoid getting into trouble that we will not know how to get out of. The alternatives require more imagination and persistence, but everything is to avoid that our children end up thinking that dad and mom lie to them to avoid satisfying them.
If as parents you have seen yourself in this situation and have carried out other solutions, please comment them, it is always enriching to hear other options.
