And what is it?
Well, as has been proven time and time again, I’m not exactly a gem of a parent. I do my best – when I’m in the mood – and just hope that things will eventually work out and I’m not raising a bunch of serial killers or people that will never move out on their own.
However, there is one shining star amid the gray cloud that is my children’s life. I feel like they’ve been well-versed from infancy in the value of ice-cream, chocolate, soda pop, donuts etc.
Enter Halloween: Everyone says that “kids these days” have a sense of entitlement, don’t like to work hard and just want things handed to them on a silver platter. One would think that Halloween was the holiday meant for this generation. With little to no effort you are gifted bag after bag of candy and everyone ooh’s and aah’s over your costume choice. Heck, you could cut a hole in a garbage bag, put it over your head and STILL get complimented and thrown a candy bar.
And herein lays my disappointment. My girls were pansies. About two doors into the trick-or-treating Cadence announced that it’s boring.
Come again? What, pray tell, is BORING about knocking on a door and being handed candy? Seriously!? I do not get it.
Would I let her give up? NO WAY!! Her costume cost me about $20 and so I figured she’d better fill her bag with about $20 worth of “free” candy in order to break even. I marched those girls for about a block and half before finally giving up. They out-whined me.
I skulked home totally disappointed. Where did I go so wrong? Where is their stamina, their work ethic? What happened to those little girls that’ll do anything for a smartie?
They left me with no choice. Their insurection couldn't go unpunished! After they went to bed I sorted through their bags and took out all the good stuff - Reese’s, Snickers, Kit Kats, 3 Musketeers, Twix - and left them all the other stuff. They clearly don’t understand the value of hard work and its rewards.
Amid the many lessons I’ve learned in my years of parenting, one stood out vividly that night.
Do not cast pearls before swine!!
1 comment:
What pansie girls...I'm sure mine lasted at least a block! However we did have a trunk-or-treat a couple days prior which is SO much less work to get all that candy. Kids who don't have a mother that allows candy in the house normally probably are more diligent in trick-or-treating.
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