Coalition versus the opposition Striking a deal with your children

Our children, like all little rascals, love visiting the toy store. And to a certain point, I do too. We are perfectly able to go into a toy store, stay there about half an hour and then leave in peace without a single toy.

I don’t know how it came about, but we made the following agreement. Before we go on a “trip” to the toy store, we state that we are either only going “for a peek” or we are actually going to choose a toy. And I can tell you, it works 98% of the time. And when they in any way get stuck on a toy, we agree to buy the thing on our next visit, or have Santa get it. :-)

The situations where the kids know the plan, know what’s going to happen and what to expect, are the situations that go the most smoothly.

I’m not saying that we never resorted to buying a balloon to divert attention. Still, after having been in the toy store a hundred times like this, we only have two balloons.

1st March 2011

Author: Lenka Míkovcová

Translation: Marek Hubbell