Most parents hate TikTok. They think it’s stupid or they worry about its influence on the psyche of their children. Not to say I don’t have those thoughts…but I have to admit that I’ve seen a lot of good things come from my kids watching TikTok.
Take for instance this example. My 10-year-old daughter Scarlett was helping me get dinner on the table. As she was grabbing out the silverware, she started talking out loud to herself.
Scarlett: Mmmmmmm, you know what sounds good? Orange juice. I could really go for a big glass of orange juice! Orange juice sounds amazing right now!
She then asked me if we had any and I simply said, “yes.” She didn’t ask to have any. Typically, my kids do not drink anything other than water with their meals. Sugar drinks have to be approved. You can think I am a crazy psycho mom for requiring my approval to drink juice, but I don’t care. Juice is filled with sugar. They consume enough of it in their food; they don’t need to have it in their drinks also. They do drink juice and sometimes soda, but it’s not an everyday thing.
A few minutes go by, and we are getting ready to sit down to sit down to eat.
Scarlett: Man, I can’t wait to have a big glass of orange juice with dinner!
Me: Who said you could have any?
She looked at me. I could tell she was a bit irritated and disappointed at the same time. She paused….then…
Scarlett: Can I have a big glass or a small glass of orange juice?
Me: Mmmmmm, ok you can have a small glass.
I paused then, and realized I’d been had. How the hell did she know how to do that? To use that persuasion skill? I certainly never taught her that. I was legitimately impressed.
Me: I like what you did there. Where did you learn it??!
Scarlett immediately giggled. She KNEW what she did, and she was immensely pleased with herself.
Scarlett: TikTok.
@joshotusanya Persuasion Trick To Get What You Want 🤯 Alternative Choice Technique (Thoughts?) #persuasion #salestips #learnontiktok #tiktokpartner #joshosays
♬ original sound - Josh Otusanya 🇳🇬
I think she was pleased for two reasons. First off, it worked. She got what she wanted from me and it was easy. No begging, pleading, or bargaining. All she did was just ask the same thing, but in a different way. And secondly, she was pleased because she saw it on TikTok and I was impressed by it. We give both the girls a hard time about TikTok. You know how parents are…blaming TikTok for everything.
“Why isn’t your room clean? It’s because you were watching TikTok.”
“Why didn’t you take the garbage out? It’s because you were watching TikTok.”
“Why didn’t you call your grandmother?” You get it…
We often blame TikTok for all our kids’ failings. But, TikTok actually taught my daughter the fundamental skill of persuasion. How to get people to give you what you want by taking away their chance to say no, and assuming the yes. What an important life skill! Something I didn’t learn until college. Sure, there’s a lot of mind-numbing vapidness on TikTok. But there’s a lot of creativity, humor, and life lessons too. I am learning to embrace the good in it, and manage the bad the best I can.
Because, in my mind, the fact that she is learning stuff like this while also watching a 60 sec clip of someone popping bubbles is a fair compromise.
I think sometimes you should just shock them and pour a 32oz glass of orange juice. Their eyes go crazy wide in disbelief… and they drink it all and get a stomach ache. Mom win. 🙂 Can you write an article on why are kids so EFFing mean these days!!! Holy middle school.. Jesus… your forehead is big, your nose is big, you’re short… WTH? AND.. I’m watching THE VOICE last night, and ALL the young contestants talk about being bullied in school! For SO MUCH awareness… we are totally worse as a society than we used to be! WTH?… Read more »
Oh, and on your video…. I guess I get it.. You cant’ say you’re gonna KILL someone on FB.. but com’on, it’s Vinny… I mean, shouldn’t they get to know him before they ban you for wanting to kill him? Just sayin. LOL!!!! 😮