#98: We Want Our Rocket Back!

We have quite a few kids in our neighborhood. Today, they wanted their rocket back. From me.

It so happened that their hand-made rocket landed on one of our house’s flat roofs. Impressively, the flying object, consisting of a used red PET bottle and two red plastic wings, almost succeeded in flying over our house. It landed on the flat roof on the backside having managed to overcome the highest point of the building. Not bad!

So a team of three youngsters, aged 4 to 11, came to see me to negotiate the recovery of what they considered theirs.

I quickly realized my mistake of underestimating them because of their presumed lack of negotiation skills. They told me that a friend of them owned a drone, which would be useful in identifying the exact location of the missing object. They had also thought about positioning a ladder onto a wall to reach the flat roof where they had expected their rocket to be. That was a scary idea.

We finally concluded that the father of the youngest rocket engineer, who is a professional painter and owns all sorts of ladders, would bring along the appropriate tool to reach the flat roof in question. However, if he wasn’t around today, they would have to wait another day.

I could tell that they weren’t happy, but they conceded and finally headed off.

I was impressed by their determination and contribution to a successful recovery of their toy. They also remained polite at all times.

No moaning and complaining, but constructive problem resolution.

We need more of that.

Beyond the age of 4 to 11.

Obviously.