more than one way to skin a cat

You know that phrase, "you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar?"

Well, Terzo has apparently heard of it. This is what came home from school with him today:

He wasted no time in showing it to Secondo, unnecessarily pointing out that it was a picture of the two of them. Secondo, who has a very soft heart, went outside immediately to play a longish game of pirates with him, which is of course what Terzo wanted all along.

Maybe there's a lesson here for international diplomacy. Lord knows that my children won't learn a thing.