Negotiations

In law school they offered a class called "Negotiations." Unless it was taught by twin toddlers, the students didn't get half the education I'm getting now. We have the expected situations where one boy wants what the other has and attempts to just simply take it. However, the boys are getting more and more strategic. When they see the desired object in their brother's hand, they will usually find another object to offer as a trade. It is a great strategy that I am very proud that they developed, however, it rarely works. I mean, would you trade your dump truck for a fake ear of corn? Therefore, usually Mommy has to broker a deal between the two. I have several techniques: 1) try to bolster the value of the object the kid does have ("Wow, you have corn? Mommy loves corn! Let's eat some corn together!); 2) introduce a new and exciting object ("Look, it's a phonics bus!" Sometimes this will work, but more often it will attract the attention of the wrong kid and then they will both be fighting over the phonics bus); encourage the kids to play with the item together ("Ethan, why don't you fill the dump truck and let Lucas do the dumping?" Ethan may think about this for a moment and then simply answer "No."); 3) waiting your turn ("Okay Lucas, it's Ethan's turn right now, and you can have a turn when he is done." This apparently is a cue to Ethan that he should never, ever stop playing with the toy. Therefore, I often end up employing the countdown method. I tell Ethan he can have the toy for ten more seconds and proceed to slowly countdown from ten. This actually works quite well, but it has resulted in our children only learning to count in descending order. When we say, "Let's do our 1,2,3s, Ethan will say "10, 9, 8." Seriously, he does this. )

In conclusion, many women are concerned that their professional skills will soften after years at home with their kids. I do not agree. I feel confident that I can now handle mediating any workplace issues, or at least enjoy a tasty fake ear of corn no matter what is going on.