continue in patience

We had a great church lesson today. We discussed President Uchtdorf's talk "Continue in Patience." If you haven't read it, or listened to it, please do.... it is really incredible. In the talk, Elder U. talks about an experiment a researcher performed with children. He gave each kid a large marshmallow, sat it in front of them and told them if they could wait 15 minutes to eat it, they would get TWO. Sadly, only 30% of the kids, waited. Some ate it right off the bat, others waited a few minutes. The researcher then watched and continued his research as the children grew up. He found that the kids who waited had way better lives, made more money, were more successful, and all around more happy. Those who couldn't wait struggled and had several issues. You can read more about it in the talk......

Being the awesome parents we are.... we were discussing what we had learned at dinner. Then we thought of trying the experiment with Will. Obviously, when it comes to parenting, we have no idea what we are doing most of the time... it is a continual experiment and poor Will is our guinea pig. He wanted ice cream so we said, very enthusiastically "Will? If you can wait just 15 minutes, we'll give you TWO scoops instead of ONE!" What did Will do? He burst into tears and said "Why is Daddy telling me this? I CAN'T wait 15 minutes, that is a long time!"

So of course we kept trying to get him to wait it out and do the experiment.... we want a socially, mentally, and emotionally stable child of course. Well, he just wailed and cried and acted like it was the worst thing we had ever done. His tears were huge and he just kept walking around all pouty and slumped over with his head hanging down, crying and saying "why are you doing this to me? I don't want to do this! I just want TWO scoops right now!"

He wasn't being bratty, or having a tantrum about it, he was just truly heart sick that he might have to wait for his ice cream, and he was completely offended that we were doing such an unusual thing to him. How dare we? To make it worse for him, we were laughing hysterically, and apologizing to him at the same time.

So, what was our end result? Never do anything out of the ordinary or routine when it comes to parenting. He got his one scoop, which he was completely happy with, but ate it with the saddest forlorn face I've ever seen. Then as soon as he was done, he just hopped off his chair and has been happy as a clam ever since!

Sorry Will, I hope we can help teach you something that will help you become a successful, patient adult......

Look at him looking at his scoop, so sad and serious.

I had to tell him there was a bunny by our stove to get him to look at the camera. See what an awesome parent I am? I need help..... I'm sure I wouldn't have waited for my marshmallow!