Clara Pan spent one month and managed to collect five stars after completed writing five pages of words as her homework from daddy. The deal was for a toy (not too big one) as a reward if she kept to her side of the deal and we both kept to the deal.
We spent 2 hours today pacing up and down through all the toy sections at the nearby mall and she could not find something that she really wanted for the effort she put in to have earned this reward. Suddenly spending her own hard earned reward is a lot more difficult then we all imagined.
I saw her frustrated. I saw her helpless. She looked like she could not find joy in any of the toys available in front of her. It felt as if her effort is worth a lot more then any of these colorful plastic in front of her.
Both my wife and I could sense her sadness and offered to buy her anything she wanted, but she could not decide. She honestly could not find something she really really wanted.
We left. Headed home. Empty handed. And on the way home, she fell asleep in the car, frowning.
It is a sad, emotional and philosophical evening.
Originally posted on my Facebook
Thanks for the lovely share, and it also means that what she will choose in the end will be all the more sweeter to her.
I love your phrase “It felt as if her effort is worth a lot more then any of these colorful plastic in front of her.” Would you consider a conversation with her to verbalise those thoughts and perhaps she could start to speculate what would be commensurate with her effort? It might not be a thing perhaps. It could be an experience or an devoted amount of time with you doing something etc. Just throwing ideas out there.
I realise I did not click to be notified of future posts, so won’t see it if you just replied. doing that here