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I’d bet many of you are teenagers, with parents who just can’t get along.
Your mom and dad are talking over each other in the bedroom.
You’re hiding away in your room, but you can still hear them arguing and it hurts.
Straight up, I’m a grown man living with my parents with this very same problem.
Some might call me a major loser, but you don’t know my whole story. My dad’s got the Parkinson’s with Dementia, and my mom’s got the short end of the stick on caregiving responsibilities for a man who won’t / can’t listen and who needs 24/7 supervision to manage his condition.
(Living with my parents makes finances and getting meals cooked for me easier, true.)
I’m probably not the reason they are arguing. I hope I’m not anyway.
I need to grow up and lead this household toward resolution.
So I talk to Echo on my Echo Dot #ad.
“Echo, put on a Simon & Garfunkel station in the bedroom.”
This is an immature and effective method for family members to intervene in parent’s disputes. You simply play music on the Echo device nearest to your parents, at a volume they’ll be able to hear the music you play.
Special Note: IF you don't have an Echo device yet, THEN click here to learn which Echo can best interrupt domestic bickering in your domicile.
Using Echo devices to broadcast media in the middle of your parents’ bickering effectively interrupts the exchange. Alexa can interrupt and influence arguing parents in the moment, but it can’t resolve deep-rooted family dysfunction.
To use your Amazon Echo device a as a tool for mediation, make sure you have these essential circumstances in place:
FIRST, when you hear your parents shouting nasty disagreements at each other, run away to your hideout and whip out your phone.
SECOND, take a breath because you can’t hear them now, or at least the sound is muffled and the auditory horror is now more tolerable.
THIRD, open the Amazon Alexa app and navigate to the “Type Text To Alexa” chat page.
To speak a voice command, simply tap that big blue “Chat Bubble” icon, and tell your device which music you want to play in the the location where your parents can't get along.
Read this post to learn essential voice command to play music with Amazon smart technology.
To send a text message asking your Amazon device to play music, follow the same steps, then tap the big blue “Keyboard on White Screen” button. Now you can type if you don’t want to make a scurry or peep for your parents to detect.
Assuming your parents are arguing in the bedroom (with “the bedroom Echo device”).
“Echo, play soothing music in the bedroom.”
…or…
“Echo, play a Simon & Garfunkel station in the bedroom.”
FOURTH, keep hiding, because your parent’s could become more angry that you’ve interrupted their dispute. Your parents might direct aggressive behaviors toward you. That’s why you keep hiding for a while until things cool down.
If your parents stop the music and keep arguing, you just repeat the same steps - increasing the volume, and putting on more distracting music.
Do you think your parents can keep shouting in disdain when “Echo, [is] play[ing] a Gnarles Barkley station at volume 5”?
FIFTH, the last resort is you “Drop In” on the argument and roll up your Social Worker sleeves to find common ground and compromise. That you break down and add fuel to the fire.
The last, last resort? If you’re a teen, plan your life differently than your parents did, or turn out the same as they did. If you’re an adult living with your elderly parents, Amazon's smart home setup features an effective trick to shake things up. Long term, you’ve got some underlying issues to sort through - if you’re a grown adult, and your parents arguing still bothers you enough to seek a solution. Good news? You’ve taken one step today!
UPDATE: This post was updated in April 2024 to reflect Amazon Alexa technology’s feature which allows you to change the wake word from default “Alexa” to preferred “Echo,” “Amazon,” “Computer,” or “Ziggy”. You can change yours using Amazon official instructions, here.
