Negotiating With Children

Imagine that you’re a parent, and imagine that you’re at your wits’ end (but I repeat myself).  Your kids have failed to do their assigned chores even though you’ve frequently reminded them (they call it “nagging”), and now they’re saying they won’t do them until you agree to raise their allowances and buy them all Xboxes.

You try to remain calm.  “Well,” you say, “we can talk about those things, but first you need to get those chores done.  The house is a mess, the garbage hasn’t been taken out, and those dishes aren’t going to do themselves.”

No deal, they say: until you promise to give them what they want, the house will stay a shambles. And by the way, they've managed to pilfer your car keys, which they plan to hold onto until you give in.

Back and forth you go, with them insisting and you calmly repeating that, before anything gets discussed, the chores have to be done and the keys returned.  After a while, they realize you won’t give in, so they take a slightly different tack: if you’ll just agree to sit down with them now and talk about raising their allowances and buying them Xboxes, then they’ll do some of the chores and they’ll tell you where they've hidden the car keys (if they even remember).

You stand your ground: no deal, you say, no matter how stubborn they’re being—chores and  keys first and that’s that.  You also point out that, without the car keys, you couldn't drive them to the store to get Xboxes even if you wanted to, not to mention the fact that you won't be able to go out and buy groceries. So the kids start yelling, “You’re so unreasonable!  You’re the one who’s being stubborn--you won’t even talk with us about it, and now you're threatening to starve us!“    

You go into the next room, close the door, and begin banging your head against the wall.  

Welcome to President Obama’s world.

 

Comments

[Jack Shifflett]

Mr. Kincaid: Halloween stopped being a kids' holiday around the same time motel rooms started costing more than $35 a night. Most men (though apparently not you) are grateful for the transformation of Halloween, what with its new emphasis on non-ladylike get-ups for the ladies. In any case, why you chose this opportunity to sneak in your HuffPo costume list is beyond me; I had written a perfectly serious bit about an ongoing national crisis, and all you can think of is Halloween? In the future, try to stay on topic; please don't make me block you from Comments.

[Mike Kincaid]

What No Trick or Treating!!!! Damn Obama!!!!
I was really looking forward to the popular 2013 costumes
The top ten list from Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/10/trending-halloween-costumes-2013_n_4076956.html

Minion costume
Breaking Bad costume
Fox costume
Duck Dynasty costume
Miley Cyrus costume
Minecraft costume
Daenerys costume
Batman costume
Gatsby dress costume
Daft Punk costume
and when did Halloween stop being a kids holiday.