The pesky power of pester power

Pester power, according to the Collins Dictionary, is the ability possessed by a child to nag a parent relentlessly until the parent succumbs and agrees to the child’s request.

 

Relentlessly. Until you succumb.

 

I am certain that I would be a much better parent if it weren’t for pester power. My children would never eat sweets, drink fizzy drinks or watch the same movie twice in one day. My house would not contain broken plastic toys purchased at the local fair for rip off prices.

 

My children aren’t always pestering, but they occupy themselves enough with it to call it perhaps a part-time hobby – a skill they enjoying honing.

 

And I know it’s not just my children. The other day, I went to meet with a friend I hadn’t seen for eons, our two youngest in toe. We met at an ice-cream shop because my child had been whining for ice-cream, for, oh, four hours non-stop, until she broke my will.  

 

Once within the confines of the ice-cream shop the baton of pester power was skilfully passed to my friend’s child who managed, in the space of twenty five minutes, to demand a bigger ice-cream, hot chocolate, snacks and two teddy bears. The child was successful twice and unsuccessful twice.  

 

Children are like spam email. They make a million requests in the hopes of getting one positive result. You can hear pestering, shrill, determined and persistent, ringing out through any supermarket in the land. Small high pitched voices pleading next to that can of baked beans with images of Anna and Elsa from Frozen on the side, or by the checkout wheedling and moaning for a pack of Monster Munch or a supersized sharing bag of Skittles.

 

Most parents I know are not push-overs, do not say yes for an easy life, but most parents, including me, do say yes, once in a while, just for an peaceful minute or two.