Becky and Sarah are sisters who share a room. Their room can easily get messy, a

Question

Becky and Sarah are sisters who share a room. Their room can easily get messy, and their parents are always telling them to clean it up. Here are the costs and benefits to both Becky and Sarah, of taking the time to clean their room: If both Becky and Sarah clean, they each spends two hours and get a clean room. If Becky decides not to clean and Sarah does all the cleaning, then Sarah spends 10 hours cleaning (Becky spends 0) but Sarah is exhausted. The same would occur for Becky if Sarah decided not to clean—Becky spends 10 hours and becomes exhausted. If both girls decide not to clean, they both have a dirty room. a. What is the best outcome for Becky and Sarah? What is the worst outcome? (It would help you to construct a prisoner’s dilemma table.) b. Unfortunately, we know that the optimal outcome will most likely not happen, and that the worst one will probably be chosen instead. Explain what it is about Becky’s and Sarah’s reasoning that will lead them both to choose the worst outcome.

Explanation / Answer

I totally understand how you feel! I thought I had it bad with Brianna spreading her KA-RAY-ZEE all over the house. But at least I don’t have to share a room with her! I HAVE had to share a room with her when we go to visit relatives, though, and we always have to share the backseat and the computer and the TV, so I can imagine what you’re going through…

My number one, most helpful piece of advice is this: Move into a spare cupboard or closet. Hey, it worked for Harry Potter!

For real, though, this is a head-scratcher. I assume if you guys are sharing a room, it’s only because you HAVE to. There’s no spare guest room you could move into or attic you could clean out. Because if you have any choices, you should take them. But I doubt you would have written to me if there was a spare room available.

Maybe your parents have decided you guys HAVE to share a room for sisterly bonding or something. (WHY do parents think they have to force that?? We’re already bonded by BLOOD!!!)

Okay, so the main problem is that your sister is a slob. I assume you’ve already tried talking to her nicely and patiently, and asking her to clean up her stuff and not use your bed as a picnic table? If not, do that. But the fact is, if she’s a slob, you’re probably not going to be able to change who she is.

You might, however, be able to come up with some guidelines that can keep you sane. Depending on how old your sister is and what your relationship is like, it might be good to involve your parents in this. I’m not the neatest person myself, but here are some ideas that make sense to me:

No matter how many rules you put in place, though, you have to remember that she may just be naturally messy. If you push too hard, you’re both going to end up frustrated. She MAY even be trying her best, as hard as that is to believe. This might be one of those life stages you have to get through. And even if you don’t want to move permanently into a cupboard, maybe there’s a little nook somewhere that could be yours and yours alone—a closet or a tree house or a corner of a parent’s office that you could escape to for quiet, neat organization

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