The Art of Negotiation

I don't know how it is at your house, but at mine summertime means that the sleepover requests (which I think are frequent anyway) really ramp up. 

And you'd think it would be the girls. But it isn't. 

It's my youngest son. 

So the conversation went something like this:

Three days ago
Him: If I do some stuff around the house first (they CAN be taught!) can I have some friends spend the night on Friday.

Me: Let's talk about that the closer it gets to Friday.

Today:
Him: What do you need me to do around the house so I can have some friends over tonight? 
(They are amazingly helpful when there's something in it for them. :o) )

Me: (Quickly calculating the number of stinky feet and unshowered bodies I'm willing to have in my basement at one time and the amount of $$ in the budget I'm willing to spend on Mountain Dew, Pringles, and Sour Gummy Worms) How many friends are we talking about here?

Him: How many can I have? 4? 5?

Me: Uhh. How about 3?

Him: 4?

Me: 2?

Him: 4?

(Usually this strategy works in my favor. I bargain down, and then what I suggested in the first place doesn't seem so bad. Apparently I'm losing my touch.)

Me (still trying): 1?

Him (grinning): 4?

Me (sensing a difficult victory this time): Who are you wanting to have over exactly?

Him: Kid I've known my entire life, Kid I've known as long as I can remember, Kid I spend as many waking hours as I possibly can with, and New Kid.

(Older son enters. Subject gets changed. I get up to leave.)

Him: So just 3?

Me: If I just let you have 3, who doesn't get invited? New Kid?

Him: Probably.

Me (admitting defeat): Okay. 4.

Sometime, in the not so distant future, New Kid is gonna be my kid. I hope sleepover negotiations in the Inland Empire go the exact same way this one did.