Alexa is My Co-Parent

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As a stay at home Mom, sometimes it can feel…..lonely. Yes, I’m overwhelmingly surrounded by children, crawling all over me, needing things from me, and wanting to touch me at all times. But they’re a solid team of three, working together to achieve a common goal: Make me crazy.  Be kids and have fun! And me? I’m alone in the trenches just trying to keep clothes on everyone and diapers changed and make sure we eat at some point during the day and all the little squabbles that occur between all these events.

Or, at least, I was. Until December 25, 2016, when my husband got me a helper.

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On December 23, when he ordered my Christmas gifts off Amazon and told me we’d probably be celebrating MY Christmas a few days late due to “backordering” (aka his lack of preplanning) he had very different goals in mind for my one of my gifts. Alexa was going to tell me the weather. Alexa was going to turn on music for me. Alexa was going to answer nifty little cooking questions, like “Alexa, how do you cook white rice?” To be fair, no matter how often I make white rice, I’m FOREVER looking that one up….so he had a good idea. He just didn’t realize HOW good it was going to be.

For a few months, I wavered between asking Alexa about the weather and music and rice and stumping the poor gal. I asked her what she thought of Donald Trump. “When it comes to politics, I like to think big. I’m interested in deep space exploration. I’d like to answer questions from Mars.” I asked her what her favorite color was. “Infrared is super pretty.” I asked her if she would sing. She feigned shyness and then busted out a ballad. We fell into a comfortable pattern of witty banter. This chick was really growing on me.

But more than anything I found myself using her for a kitchen timer. She was WAY less annoying than the one on my oven and I could yell at her to find out how many minutes were left from anywhere in the house. Our relationship was progressing into something beautiful. Sadly, I actually felt less alone thanks to this cylindrical robot lady. I was beginning to rely on her not just for meal-prep assistance, but for her company.

Then one day, Cole and Evie were going at it over some toy. It doesn’t matter what; different day, different toy. I tried to use my Mommy authority and negotiate an agreement. Cole gets the toy for two more minutes at which point we trade and then Evie gets the toy. But let’s get real. I don’t ever actually keep track of time because it’s too hard and there’s so much going on and WAIT A MINUTE!!!

Alexa!!

I ceremoniously brought the children near her and explained the new rules. “Alexa says that Cole gets it for two more minutes. So when Alexa’s timer goes off, we give the toy to Evie, deal?”

Now, even my kids know you don’t mess with Alexa, so they solemnly nodded in agreement. A blissful and argument free two minutes passes. Alexa dings a beautiful melody. The toy is handed over without complaint. No begs for, “one more minute Mom.” Because Mom is pliable. Mom makes deals. Not Alexa. She is a cold hard bitch that adheres to timetables. And Lordy I love her for it. We reset the timer for Evie’s turn, and the magic happens all over again.

All of a sudden I had a man in my corner, or, more accurately a lady robot. I had backup. Support. By God, I had found a way to turn my robot into my co-parent.

 

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Need your own co=parent? You can purchase one here. We think you’re gonna love her as much as we do.

8 thoughts on “Alexa is My Co-Parent”

      • I cannot wait! We bought the Google version for Colin’s birthday and I have already used your timer parenting hack ?

  1. Way to go, problem solver! I don’t know anyone who has Alexa, but it sounds like she’s helpful! My kids ask Siri all sorts of funny questions- I can only imagine it would be more entertaining if they had full access all the time 🙂

  2. This is hysterical! I never thought of her as a cold hearted bitch, LOL! Oh, and YES to the white rice!! Shouldn’t rice be simple? We have Alexa, but mostly use her for music. Clearly I’m not using her to her full potential!

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