the bribe

So today Jed's supposed to clean his room. He's actually been in there about 6 hours, since his father said he can't come out until it's done. As far as I can tell, nothing has been put away in that time, although perhaps some more items have come out of the toy tub during the endeavor.

I got up a moment ago to check on the progress. "What do you think mom? Looking good?"

I took a long look around the room, saw the covers on the floor, the tubs overflowing with random items, the dirty clothes bin sitting on its side with shirt falling out, the Lego creations he's made today, and answered "hmmm, maybe not so good."

Jed got up off his bed and walked over to me.

"Tell you what mom, how about I give you three big ones and you look the other way?" Jed reaches into the jar on his dresser and pulls out three, crumpled one dollar bills. I must have looked amused because he went on. "Seriously mom, it could be yours."

I explained to my son that I couldn't be bribed, and that it would be best if he just cleaned his room so that he could come out some day. Besides, when people offer "big ones" they usually mean hundreds, not ones. "But mom, it is a hundred; a hundred pennies," he countered. Shaking my head, I went back into the living room, where I sit dinking around on the computer.

Since I've started, Jed has placed the lid of his money jar on the coffee table next to me. He's added some change to the cash he originally offered. "Just in case you change your mind, mom. The offer's still good you know."

He's so darn cute when he tries to bribe me. To bad he doesn't have more money.