Counter Offer?

It's interesting explaining the whole moving process to kids.  I can see why they get confused when everything takes so long and has so many steps and nothing is definite until the closing.

The kids want to know if we are for sure buying the house we hope is our new home.  Our offer for the house was accepted, but we don't want to consider anything definite just yet.

The kids had lots of questions when we received an offer on our house and decided to counter offer.  Nolan was hammering Jared with questions, so I sat him down and explained the process of counter offering.  I used an analogy of him asking me for 5 pieces of candy as his initial offer.  I would then counter offer one piece of candy.  He could then counter with two pieces, and I would probably accept.

He smiled and said something about using that later.

Later that evening, I took Nolan to his baseball practice.  It's held at a school.  In fact, it will be the school the boys will attend once we move into our new house.

After practice is over, most of the boys like to play on the playground equipment for a bit before the parents break up the fun by dragging their kids away.  I waited a respectable amount of time, and then I told Nolan it was about time to go.

He was just approaching the monkey bars, so I told him he could finish the monkey bars and then we'd go.  The problem was that he could only make it about halfway across before dropping.  I waited patiently while he tried again.  And again.

Then I finally told him he could attempt it two more times and then we needed to go, no matter how far he got.  He tried two more times, but his little arms were tired, and he didn't make it very far.

I told him we needed to go.  In a rare moment for him, he decided he wanted to disobey me.  He climbed up on that rung that serves as a step to reach the monkey bars.  I looked at him squarely and told him he had reached a choice:  obedience or disobedience.  He asked me if he could have one more attempt to cross the monkey bars.

I told him he had zero more monkey bar attempts left.

He smiled at me with his big round sweaty cheeks and said, "Counter offer?"

I broke from my strict parenting stance and cracked up.  He climbed down and followed me as I laughed my way back to the car.

He had listened to my explanation and used the information against me.  Well played, Nolan.  Maybe I should explain closing costs to him.

Jessica