It is movie night for me and my daughter. She knows what she wants. We are spending some time together watching a movie and eating some chocolate. She does not like her popcorn too cheesy. Just right. We make a deal to agree that we are not going to have popcorn that is too cheesy.
It is fun when your kids are happy making bargains with you. You know they want something and so do you. Teaching them to make deals is a good thing. Teaching them to speak up for themselves is a great thing to do. I let them know that I listen to their opinions.
I listen and then I let them know if we can do what they want. Something simple like what to put on popcorn can be negotiated. Buying a small toy for good behavior is also something that can be negotiated. I want to teach my kids about win-win principles. If one person loses in the deal then no one truly wins. With the cheesy popcorn, we can come up with a solution together. I think that is a great skill to have.