When Kids Negotiate

Next month, Disney Social Media Moms conference will be held at Disney World which I am thrilled to be on the invite list. The flip side of the invite is the logistics of day care which as a single mom always plays into most of my decision making. I thought who is going to watch  my daughter while I was at the conference. Daddy Mitch of gaynycdad.com is also attending (yes, it is titled Disney Social Media Moms but Dad bloggers were also invited.) As I was lamenting my babysitting plight, he looked at me like are you insane, “Peter (his spouse) will watch them.”

I love Daddy Peter but I was “are you sure he can handle two kids on his own.” At that point, we both agreed to talk to our respective kids about behaving and listening to Daddy Peter.  As kids do, they both said, “yes.” Of course, when you are given the option of staying home or going to Disney World, any kid is going to say yes.

So I was amused to hear from the daughter  that she and Mitch’s son had “discussed and negotiated”  their Disney World rides.  “We both agreed to take turns picking the rides we are going on, so we won’t argue.” my daughter told me.

To say that I was stunned that two eight year olds would even come up with the idea of talking this through is an understatement.  As with any third grade class, the girls and boys remain pretty much segregated so I could not even imagine when they were having this conversation – lunch, recess, the classroom. No matter, all I know is that they worked it out themselves which impressed me that they really cared enough to make the effort.

Kudos!