FWIW, my DD-then-6 lobbied for her grade skip. It was clear to everyone that she really wanted it, and that it would be a good choice for her. (And when she decided the day after taking the test that she didn't really want to skip, she was stuck skipping anyhow, because we could tell it just cold feet.)
OTOH, she has lobbied much longer for homeschooling, and it's clear to all the adults that me homeschooling her would result in tragedy! I let her take an online class this past summer, with me supporting her at home, and it was a fiasco. Now I point to that, and ask if she really wants to be homeschooled, and even she sees the issue there.
Sometimes (often) DD will ask for Thing A, because what she really wants is Thing B. For whatever reason, she thinks a request for Thing B will be denied, but that a request for Thing A will be granted. I don't know if she thinks that she'll get B at some later point after getting A, or if she'd rather get something than nothing, but figuring out the unspoken B is an important part of my interactions with her.
