The Art of Negotiation

On Friday night we celebrated my 8yo son's birthday at a sports complex with 14 of his closest friends.  It was great fun and he made out like a bandit - getting tons and tons of presents.

He even got TWO flag football sets.

At 7pm Saturday night I realized, with a curseword, that my 6yo daughter was going to a male classmate's birthday party the following morning(SUNDAY!!) at 9am - and that I didn't have a present.

We were all sitting at the dinner table and I said to my son, "Hey, you know how you got two flag football sets for your birthday?"

"Yeah." he answered.

"Well," I offered, "I'll give you $20 for the unopened one."

"OK!" he said.

"Wait a sec." my husband interjected with the tone of someone about to impart a valuable lesson.

"When someone makes you an offer like that, you don't want to just accept it right away.  You want to understand WHY they want what they want so that you can understand whether or not you could get MORE from them."

My son turned to me.  "Why do you want it?" he asked.

"Well," I told him, "Your sister is going to Matthew's birthday tomorrow and I don't have a present for him.  If I don't buy your present I'll have to get up SUPER early to go to the store to get him something and I REALLY don't want to have to get up early.  Plus, you have two and I know you'd rather have more Legos than a football set you probably won't use."

So he says, "Ok, you can have it... For FIFTY dollars!"

My husband laughs so I say, "How about this, I'll give you $20 and Daddy will take you to the gun range."
"OK!" he says.

My husband interrupts with another lesson, "Son," he says, "She can't make commitments for me."

My son looks at him, not understanding.

My husband clarifies, "She's not the boss of me."
My son laughs outright and says, "Yes she is."

My husband laughs and says, "Ok, in this case, yes, but typically the person you're making the deal with can only make promises for themself."

He seems to understand. 

I decide to add one more lesson.  "You also want to negotiate from a position of strength."

"What does that mean?" he asks.

I answer him, "It means we have chocolate icecream for dessert and I'm selling bowls for $25!"

His face lit up, "OK!" 

 

Comments

[Karin]

Valuable life lessons learned at the dinner table. What's not to love!

[joeinvegas]

How much ice cream did he have?

[Keisha D.]

Hahaha brilliant! Also, I would've done the same thing instead of going to the store at the crack of dawn to get a present.

[Jessie Powell]

Your family is hilarious. I think I'd love to be a fly on the wall at mealtime.