Your Training Methods Are Very Graphic

(My uncle and aunt are going on a trip for a weekend, and get me to stay at their house and take care of my seven-year-old cousin. My cousin’s a pretty clever kid, but he gets bored easily and has a learning disorder that means he is below his expected reading level. This means he needs to practice reading every night.)

Me: “After dinner and before dessert, your dad says you have to do your reading. Which book do you want?”

Cousin: “No.”

Me: “No?”

Cousin: “None of the books. They’re boring and I don’t like them. I want to watch TV.”

Me: “All right, I’ll make you a deal. We can watch one TV show of my choosing first, and then you have to read.”

Cousin: “Okay!”

(I then put on the starting episode of a fun anime, complete with subtitles that I read out to him. By the time the first episode is finished, he’s really into it.)

Cousin: *with a deliberately over-cute look* “I really, really liked that show. What happens next? Can we watch the next episode?”

Me: “I don’t have any more of it here. Guess we’ll have to look at the comic book version, instead!”

(I get out the equivalent manga, and then hold it out to him.)

Me: “Since I did the voices for the show, you should do the voices for the comic.”

Cousin: “Okay.”

(By the end of the evening, he had read — with only a little help — the entire volume. I think he still believes he tricked me into not making him do his reading.)