Daddy Learns a Lesson

As a father I am completely cognizant of the fact that everyday is an opportunity to teach my children lessons that they can take into adulthood. I want them to be good parents and I know that much of that responsibility is bourne by Anige and I to teach them well. Gracie is always a chore because she is so strong willed and sometimes lessons come hard.

Let me tell you something about Gracie, she is one lucky little girl. Let me explain...

About a year ago I took her to a restaurant and on our way out she saw one of those gumball machines with little Disney toys inside it. She wanted one of the fifty cent toys inside. In fact, she not only wanted a toy, she wanted one in particular. I remember telling her she didn't get to choose to get the Little Mermaid, that it was random. That didn't deter her. I kept telling her, Gracie, don't be upset if you don't get the one you want. Of course she put her quarters in, turned the handle and BAM! out came the Little Mermaid toy she had been yearning. That little moment did nothing to build my credibility.

Fast forward a year, to last Friday. We went to Gracie's school carnival. They had a little table set up where you could buy tickets for the many games scattered around the school. They also had raffle tickets you could buy. Now these tickets were taken to one of the rooms in the school where bunch of prizes were set up. You filled out your tickets and took them around to the buckets scattered around the room. There were some nice prizes. Some of them, like a wooden balloon wall hanging had just a few tickets in it's can. Others, like an Apple Ipod had tons of tickets in the can.

Grace found the table with the Nintendo DS, a hand held portable game system on it. In the can for this door prize were hundreds of tickets, arguably the most popular item there. Gracie informed me that she wanted the NDS and dropped the last ticket in the can.

Now, like I said previously, I am compelled to teach my children a lesson. I pulled Gracie aside and told her, "Don't get your hopes up sweetie, you probably are not going to win the Nintendo." As we walked through the school Gracie constantly chortled about the DS and how much she wanted it and how she was going to win it. I told her to not get her hopes up.

We went home and as soon as we walked in the door she asked me how we would know if she won the Nintendo. I told her that they would call us. She asked when they would call us. I told they would probably call on Monday. She asked where we would go to get the DS. I told her they would probably just keep it as school. The girl was obsessed with the thing. I took her to the couch, sat her down and told her that just because she wanted it, it didn't mean she was going to get the Nintendo DS. Her response was a simple, "but I really want it Daddy."

"Well, you're not going to win it Grace, there were a million tickets in that bucket and they aren't going to pull your ticket out, " I told her. This didn't stop the questions which I eventually had to cut off by telling her to forget about the Nintendo.

Well, at about 8:30pm Friday night Gracie's girl scout leader called. She said she wanted to be the first to give us a hard time. "About what?" I asked her. "About winning the Ninendo DS. They just called your name, " she replied.

I couldn't believe it, and didn't until 15 minutes later when the school called confirming it.

Now, I had a nice big serving of crow right before I went to Gracie and told her she had won the Nintendo DS. She was very cordial and simply asked when we could go get it. She didn't rub it in or mock me. Her only comment about the whole thing was, "I told you I wanted it Daddy," as if her desire was all that she needed to get what she wanted.

I guess my intention of teaching Grace a lesson was in fact a lesson for me. Never underestimate the will of a six year old.

Needless to say I'm trying to convince Gracie that she really wants a winning Powerball ticket.