Sneak Peak

As of late, our oldest has started getting sneaky. There have been a few instances that come to mind and apparently seem to be the start of some new secret spy kid thing going on. Has me wondering if there is a parent attention deficit going on - as in pay attention to me and my interests and "I'm bored."

The first instance started happening this summer during break from school. The sun comes up earlier and the kids started getting up really early. With anticipation of playing games - on the computer or the X-box. Having recently learned the ability to turn these machines on, the kids have figured out that mom and dad aren't getting up right away - if they don't have to. So, there is the easy ability to rise and shine and play games for an hour before mom and dad get up and get their coffee on. We have our computer set up for Kidzui, a kid-friendly activity site. At this time the X-box has only kid friendly games... but where will this go?

Another instance involves the older brother coercing the younger into his stash of cookies or even money. Using the promise of letting the younger play with his Legos at some point in the future. The trouble is, this never happens and suddenly the older brother is gobbling down an extra cookie or has more money for which to purchase the next Ninjago.

The third involves the oldest sneaking things to school. Pokeman cards or Lego figures or money. All of which are smaller and somewhat difficult to detect. My concern is that school is school, a place where you are kept busy learning and experiencing. This involves complete interaction with other kids - who might have their little Lego figures there at school, but can't they wait until they get home to play these things together?

We can see the older brother is getting clever and smarter, his interests are changing, he is growing like a tree, he is getting street smarts from other kids at school - all things I understand and wish to foster to his benefit. My concern is whether this sneakiness goes away or just blossoms into something bigger... or that he is genuinely bored and searching for the next thing. Or that he is starting to grow out of us and this is the start of some natural independent streak. Is this something that all oldest kids go through?