Tyra Banks had son sign ‘no video games’ contract — an idea she got from ChatGPT
Tyra Banks didn’t know how to address her son’s video game addiction — so she asked ChatGPT.
The 51-year-old supermodel, who shares son York Banks Asla, 9, with her ex-boyfriend, Erik Asla, according to People, is this week’s guest host alongside Jenna Bush Hager on “Today With Jenna & Friends.”
On Monday, July 28, the two co-hosts were joined by Dr. Aliza Pressman to answer a few questions about summer parenting.
But before they got to viewer questions, Banks opened the segment with a dilemma of her own.
“I had a ‘no video games in my house’ rule,” Banks said. “Then, my significant other — the stepfather of my child — he introduced Roblox and, what’s the video game with all the squares? Minecraft!”
“And now my son is addicted,” Banks added.
In an effort to combat her son’s addiction, Banks — who is now dating Louis Bélanger-Martin, according to Today — took her dilemma to ChatGPT, which she named Gwyneth after actress Gwyneth Paltrow.
“I called Gwyneth and was like, ‘ChatGPT, what do I do?” Banks recalled.
“She suggested a contract. So I made a contract. You can only do these days, you can only do these hours, you have to earn it with chores, homework, blah, blah, blah,” she explained.
But did her son uphold his end of the contract? Unfortunately no. Banks said ever since her son signed the contract, “it’s like it never existed.”
When Banks asked what she should do, Pressman questioned if she laid out any consequences for when her son breaks the contract.
Banks revealed that she would sometimes threaten to take the video games away, but wasn’t very strict about enforcing that rule.
“If you do a contract, make sure you can live up to the contract on your end,” Pressman advised.
“When you set limits (and) when you have rules for your kids, you’re in charge of keeping them. Not them,” she added. “(The children) can break the rules, but then you keep your boundary.”
Banks also expressed concern that her son would grow up addicted to video games because he already complains of boredom when he’s not playing them.
“Boredom is so great,” Pressman argued. “So many good things can happen with bored kids. And they can be unhappy. I think getting comfortable with their boredom is fine.”
As for Bush Hager, she recommended keeping it simple and telling the child “no iPads during the week.”
“I just don’t want to fight about stuff every single day,” Bush Hager explained.
After receiving the advice, Banks turned to the camera and left her son a brief message.
“Do you hear me, my child? No more Roblox and that square thing on the weekdays!”
