Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Dealing with Difficult Parents

Hi there. In this tutorial I'll give you some important tips on how to deal with difficult parents if you don't get your way, or how to ask for something when you think they'll say no (like a cell/mobile phone)

1. If you think your parents will say no, compile evidence on why this particular item will benefit you. Think like a parent, for example, a cell/mobile phone might make you safer if you're out alone.
2. Compile this evidence into a Word document; make it look professional.
3. Present this evidence to your parents in the form of a speech and at the end, hand a fresh copy of your report to your parents for their consideration. Ask your parents to talk about it.
4. If there's no response after two days, ask your parents again about it.
5. After one week, call a 'family conference' where you get to talk about the problems. Don't nag or you'll get a straight no.
6. If your parents say no, ask them why. Ask for a list of objections they have to the item and try to dispel them one at a time. For example, if their objection is the price, scout around the Internet looking for cheaper prices and ways to keep the costs low.
7. If your parents still say no, it might be best just to accept this. You'll be showing your parents that you are mature enough to accept a rejection and if you ask again in about 3-6 months time, you might get a yes this time. If you get a 'no' again, reflect on the past family conference with them and ask whether their objections were sufficiently dispelled last time. If you still get a declination, repeat step seven again. After all, they are your parents.

I hope my guide helped. I wrote it from pure experience. I realised about a year ago that if I continually nagged for something, I would continually receive the word 'no'.

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