The end of the year is coming upon us and we started the Christmas present discussion, “so have you been good this year and what have you done that might put you on Santa’s good list?”. a sort of merit based annual appraisal for the kids.
In past years this has been things like; i learnt how to ride my bicycle, I can tie my shoe laces, I only got one “serious concerns” in my school report and so on. We set the bar a bit low, trying to build the kids self-esteem and re-enforce the snowflaky-ness of their generation.
As usual we were having this discussion around the dinner table, and the question prompted a moment of silence. Hopefully it was a pause for reflection and thought.
Then, number 1 stated rather proudly, “well last year I learnt how to blow my nose”
“Oh my god, you were sooo embarrassing and pathetic before”, number 2 chipped in. “It wasn’t even worth it. It was ridiculous”
Number 1 didn’t disagree, nor did we.
Undeterred, number 1 continued, “well, this year I learnt to eat with a big spoon”
It is true that the kids have a habit of using a small tea spoon to eat their cereals or soup. Perhaps it was a habit from their toddler days that they just kept going.
But as a major achievement I am not sure “using a big spoon” ranks in the top 5.
