PA
A smartphone app has been launched that promises to bring an end to squabbles between parents and stroppy teenagers.
Yeah, right, whatevvahhhhhh!
But seriously...the 'Close My Deal' app teaches parents and teenagers negotiating skills for use in arguments at home.
For example, it offers parents advice on how to get your teen to unload the dishwasher every night (threaten to withhold their pocket money), and tells teenagers how to get the bank of mum and dad to cough up for some concert tickets (offer to attend an elderly relative's birthday party!).
The app developers say it gives parents useful hints on how to approach their children and gives teenagers suggestions on how to compromise.
It works by posing scenarios which could spark an argument, and prompts the user to choose from a range of answers to the problem.
It then scores users on their choice and gives tips on how to improve their negotiating style.
Creator Clive Rich, 52, a business negotiator, said: "In my experience, negotiating with a stubborn teenager is every bit as difficult as trying to win a boardroom deal.
"For parents, negotiating with teenagers can be an uncomfortable period.
"All those negotiations which used to be handled through the exercise of parental authority now need to be approached collaboratively, with kids who now look and sound like adults.
"For teenagers the experience of negotiating with parents can be equally frustrating.
"At a time when they are ready to explore the world and all it has to offer, their parents may be setting all sorts of rules and restrictions which seem unnecessary now they are no longer kids.
"The app shows how good negotiating comes down to identifying the motivations which lie beneath the issue.
"That row about alcohol or curfews may in practice be a debate about the balance between the teenage need to push the boundaries and parental reassurance."
Would you use an app to help you make compromise arrangements with your kids?
More on Parentdish: Our weekly Surviving Teenagers column