Game Theory Secrets for Parents

WSJ ^ | July 10, 2014 | Jennifer Breheny Wallace

[Blood of Tyrants]

I grew up in a large family of 6 kids, too. You ate what mama cooked or you went hungry. There were no leftovers in our house.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Farts are like children. You can’t stand any but your own.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

So how to deal with the problem of dividing a piece of cake into three equal shares?

How about "If you three don't stop whining about how your brother or sister got a bigger piece, I'm throwing the whole damn cake down the garbage disposal and none of you will have any."

[1rudeboy]

Please see my comment #19.

[IYAS9YAS]

Would you like to eat your peas first or your broccoli?

My kids love broccoli. Peas? Not so much. I don't think I ate broccoli knowingly until I was 19.

[Grammy]

If my kids complained about “fair” I took a fork and started taking bites to make sure it was “even”.

They stopped.

[terycarl]

I eat the cake and too damned bad for the kids....when they are mean parents, they too can eat the cake!!

[blueunicorn6]

Here’s how game theory worked at our house. I would take the three pieces of cake.

“We’re going to play a game. Pick a number from one to ten.”

“Five.”

“Eight.”

“Good choices!”

Then I ate all three pieces.

[OldNewYork]

Agree. Looking at the general size of kids these days, skipping the cake would be a pretty good idea.