The Game Theorist’s Guide to Parenting – Raeburn/Zollman – Audiobook

As almost every parent knows, children are surprisingly shrewd negotiators. But how can we avoid those all too familiar wails, “Hey, that’s not fair!” or “You can’t make me!”?

In The Game Theorist’s Guide to Parenting, game theorist Kevin Zollman and journalist Paul Raeburn pair up to highlight tactics from the worlds of business and economics that can help parents break the endless cycle of quarrels and ineffective solutions. They show that some of the same strategies successfully applied to politics and big business deals – such as the famous prisoner’s dilemma and the ultimatum game – can be used to solve such huge, age-old parenting problems as putting down those screens, dividing up toys, and sticking to a bedtime.

Zollman and Raeburn open each chapter with a common parenting dilemma, such as who gets a bedtime story first or determining who started a fight. Then they show how carefully concocted schemes involving appropriate incentives and bargains can save the day for parents and kids alike. Through smart case studies of game theory in action, Zollman and Raeburn reveal how kids and parents devise strategies, where those strategies go wrong, and what can we as parents do to help raise savvy and happy children while keeping the rest of the family happy, too.

Delightfully witty, refreshingly irreverent, and just a bit Machiavellian, The Game Theorist’s Guide to Parenting looks past the fads to offer practical advice you can put into action today.