Think about an argument or disagreement that you wish you could have handled differently. What happened, what was your goal, and what would you do differently now? Use at least one idea from Chapters 1–3 of Thank You for Arguing in your response.

Prompt Response: An argument that I wish I could have handled differently was a disagreement I had with my mom about whether or not I should have been able to go out with my friends one night, despite not having cleaned my room and the rest of the house. I ended up not being able to hang out with my friends that night as I had argued with my mom and I had become a bit frustrated with her. My goal at the time was to convince my mom to allow me to leave the house and socialize with my friends, however I was unsuccessful. I think that something I should have done differently in order to have won the argument is that I should have listened to some of the things my mom had to say and let her "score some of the points" in the argument, that way I would have been letting her feel like she was winning, when in reality I was taking control of the argument. I could have done this by admitting that I could have kept my room a little bit more organized, and I could have asked for any tips or helpful advice for ensuring that my room consistently stayed clean, without having a sarcastic tone.

Summary and Reflection: In class we learned the exact steps for winning an argument, by analyzing a couple of different scenarios and the tactics that were used in those scenarios. I learned that there are various steps to win an argument, including to even let your opponent score some points in certain situations or scenarios. The information that I learned is very useful and important as I can use what I learned in a variety of scenarios, such as trying to convince my parents to let me attend a concert on a school night.