Business Skills

Jonathan's skill sin expressing himself and making his wishes known are increasing daily. Yesterday he provided us with a “great moment” by expressing a wish to “go with mommy” in simple terms. We should all look to our children for the basics we have forgotten.

Yesterday, as Jonathan was taking his bath, with both my husband and I watching him playing in the water, I had to leave the house for about an hour. So I explained to Jonathan that “mommy has to go for on hour and then she will be back”. Jonathan looked up from his play in the bath and said “bye bye”. I answered bye bay and began my retreat. Then he stood up and said “bye bye aba” (bye bye daddy) and then he added “to go” - making sure I understood he wanted to go with me he also raised his armed to be lifted out of the tub. My husband and I laughed. I kissed him and told him it was nice he wanted to escort me, but that he must stay at home with daddy. He then waved me off and continued to enjoy his bath.

This is not the first time this has happened. When I leave the house he wants to join me most of the times. Sometimes I take him with me even if it was not originally planned, and sometimes I just cannot – just like yesterday. Still I find it very sweet, that he can express is explicit wish to join me in such simple yet clear means of speech and body language. It is also truly gratifying as a mother, that he likes my company so much... I wonder sometimes how frustrating it can be to be a dad – the eternal “Second best”.

Potty training is always on my mind these days. I ask him if he wants to go to the toilet to pee and he simply says “no pee toilet”. Then when he wants to go, he runs to the restroom and says “pee toilet”. In business negotiation there is a tactic called KISS – keep it simple, stupid. Jonathan expresses himself just that way.

We should all learn some basic tactics from our kids. Children have negotiating skills that we adults have forgotten, not to mention marketing. Last weekend we were visiting a family of German friends who are on holiday in Israel and they have a 6 year old boy. On more than one occasion, the boy cleverly used things the adults said and “marketed” them to suit his interests. There were some distortions and misunderstandings and yet always masterfully tied to the original words uttered by the adults around him. It was simply about interpretation. I regretfully do not remember particulars, but it was skilfully and smoothly done. The boy has great potential in international business and I told his father so...