ICE CREAM DAY AT OUR HOUSE

When our son was only 6 years old he discovered ice-cream.  Actually, he had discovered it prior to that, he just decided at age 6 that ice-ream would be enough.  He simply knew that ice-cream was the only food he would need to be happy.  I told him over and over that a balanced diet would make him happy and that eating ice-cream only would be bad for him in a combination of ways.  However, he knew differently.  How he thought at age 6 he was so smart, I’ll never know.

     So, one Saturday, we had a special day.  It was ‘ice-cream day.’  For every meal we would have ice-cream.  The rule of the day was simple.  You could have ice-cream only, as much as you wanted.  Even for between meal snacks (which have always been in our diet), you could have ice-cream.  You would get nothing but ice-cream until you admitted that a diet of only ice-cream was not wise, good or satisfying.  Our 6-year-old knew he would win this one.

     The day began with all of us eating ice cream.  Carla and I had other stuff with it, like coffee and toast.  Andy and Amy had ice cream only.  For mid-morning snack, ice cream.  Andy was happy, in fact this was turning out to be the best day of his life.

     Noon came and time for lunch.  Carla and I had something like toasted -cheese with lunch meat.  The kids had ice-cream.  Amy was only three at the time, she had nothing to prove with this crazy ice cream idea.  As soon as she came to the table she “meat, I want meat?”  Her natural instinct was taking over.  However, the aged one, was a little hard-headed (gets that from Carla) still had victory in mind.  So, ice cream he ate for lunch.  I think I detected a l little less excitement over this project.

     For the mid-after-noon-snack, Andy admitted that he didn’t want any more ice cream.  In fact, the wise one had a belly-ache.  Lesson learned.  To this day our son, still eats proper nutrition and balance.  His eating habit are way better than my own.

     That little episode is what we some-times call a teaching moment.  It is a form of discipline.  All discipline is not just punishment but learn what is correct.  It is wrong for us to expect a certain attitude or understanding without some instruction.  When giving the instruction, then we expect the right attitude and action.  For example:

Expect honesty and discipline dishonesty

Expect loyalty and discipline selfishness

Expect justice and discipline cheating

Expect mercy and discipline hatred

Expect truth and discipline lying

Expect love and discipline hate

Expect kindness and discipline rudeness

Expect respect and discipline disrespect.

     With a little imagination and time and thought, learning can be fun and life altering.  That’s right, a life-time of good habits can be the pattern of life for some-one disciplined by some=one who loves them.  You should hear the story about the day my son wanted to skip school!