Basic Elements:
Characters: Farmer Brown, the cows, the hens, and the ducks.
Setting: On the farm
Plot: Farmer Brown’s cows like to type, he hears them all day long. The cows send Farmer Brown requests by sending him notes. He finds it annoying.
Genre: Fantasy
The story “Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type” written by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Betsy Lewin is about Farmer Brown’s problem. His cows like to type, because they want to send a request to Farmer Brown to request for electric blankets, as it is too cold at night. Farmer Brown declined their request. The Cows decided to go on strike. Then, the hens also would like electric blankets, so the Cows send Farmer Brown another request. Farmer Brown ignored the request. The Hens went on strike as well. Now, Farmer Brown has no milk, no eggs, no business. He sent a note to the Cows and Hens demanding milk and eggs, the Ducks as a neutral party who brought the note to the Cows and the Hens. They all agreed to exchange the Cows and Hens’ typewriter for electric blankets. The next day, the Ducks left a note for Farmer Brown that they wanted a diving board. Farmer Brown agreed. Now, Farmer Brown is back in business.
Sometimes we need to use leverage to trade for what we need. It is quite common to leverage when we negotiate with others to get what we want. However, before asking for something from others, we need to think about what we can give to others, which is what they need. In the story, the Cows and Hens went on strike, they stopped producing milk and eggs for Farmer Brown. Farmer Brown had no choice but to give them what they wanted, or he would go out of business. Farmer Brown needs the milk and eggs from the Cows and Hens, so he can keep his business running. The Cows and the Hens must have electric blankets to keep them warm in order to produce milk or eggs, if the temperature is too low, they are unable to produce any milk or eggs. Hence, electric blankets are an essential item for them. The Ducks saw the Cows and Hens got what they wanted, so the Ducks also decided to get what they wanted, which is a diving board. Diving board is not an essential item for the Ducks, they are only using it for fun. They got the diving board by using themselves as leverage, Farmer Brown needed the duck meat to sell for business. Hence, he agreed to the Ducks’ request. Knowing our own advantages and how to use it to leverage what we want, also knowing that we have what others need is important during negotiation.
When we are not strong enough, we can invite others to join us to strengthen ourselves, together we can form a strong team. If one person’s voice is not loud enough, we can invite people who share the same goal as us to form a team, so we are strong enough to achieve our goal. In the story, the Cows failed to get the electric blankets from Farmer Brown at first, then they found out the Hens also wanted the electric blankets, so they invited the Hens to join them to go on strike, Farmer Brown had no choice but to agree to their request. The Cows could not get the electric blankets on their own, because they were the only one who made the request, Farmer Brown did not take it seriously and rejected their request. The Cows had to ask the Hens to join them who also needed the blankets, together they were stronger to negotiate with Farmer Brown, and eventually they got what they wanted. The Cows or the Hens could not have made the deal without each other. Forming a team is essential sometimes, when we are not strong enough just by ourselves, choosing the right teammate would help us all to get to our target easier.
We should treat others just like how we want to be treated. The way how others treat us reflects how we treat others. We all wish to be treated respectfully, fairly and kindly, it makes us feel happy and grateful. In return, to show our gratitude, we would treat others in the same way. In the story, Farmer Brown was disrespectful to the Cows and Hens by ignoring their simple request, this made the Cows and the Hens furious, they went on strike. Farmer Brown ended up with no milk, no eggs or business. He was not nice to the animals at the beginning, so he did not get what he needed to run his bunnies. If we respect others, others should respect us; if others do not respect us, we should fight for our rights until we are being treated fairly and equally.
From the story “Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type” I learned about knowing and using our advantages, we can leverage to get what we need or want when negotiating with others. When we are not strong enough by ourselves, we can invite others who also have the same goal to join us, together we can form a stronger team and fight for what we want. We treat others just like how we wish to be treated, we show respect, appreciation and kindness to others. This brings everyone happiness and joy, and it makes our world a better home.
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