“Come back when you have all of the information.”

Tim Spiegelglass, owner of Spiegelglass Construction Company, describes how he had to pitch for what he wanted during childhood.

“For as long as I can remember, my father asked me to negotiate or make a pitch for what I wanted, and now I’m having my daughters do the same thing. Growing up, when I asked my parents for something – anything from staying out late to going on a trip with my buddies for spring break – I got the same response, ‘Come back when you have all of the information.’

“I would return with a prepared pitch, and I was rewarded for a persuasive argument or a fair negotiation […] Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t, but now I’m teaching those same skills to my kids.”

Preparing pitches, persuasive arguments and fair negotiations are very useful skills to have. How could they be playfully encouraged and used in an inspiring way?