The Pumpkin and the Semi-successful Teaching Moment

Since Phillip had late class last night, we decided to have family night this evening. We piled into the car and went to Trader Joe’s to pick out our Halloween pumpkins (at $3.49/pumpkin, they’re the best deal in town). Joy picked a little sugar pumpkin, then Daddy and I each chose a larger one to carve.

When we returned home Joy was eager to carry her own pumpkin, so we let her give it a try. She did fine until we reached the stairs, then she accidentally dropped it down a few steps. We handed it back to her when we reached the top, but she soon dropped it again. We returned it to her once more, encouraging her to be careful, whereupon she smiled and threw the pumpkin several feet ahead of her.

I rescued the unfortunate squash and carried it up the second flight of steps, then Joy began reaching for her pumpkin again so I decided to try a technique I recently heard at a parenting class. Before handing it to her I reminded her that we shouldn’t throw pumpkins, then I asked if she was willing to carry it without throwing it. I seemed to get a positive response, so I handed the little pumpkin back to her. True to her word, she didn’t throw it. She set it on the ground and kicked it like a soccer ball most of the way to our front door. The sight made me laugh out loud. Ah, kids.