ACKNOWLEDGING THE EFFORT

We live in a culture of participation trophies, which I think is ridiculous, but I do think there are times effort should be rewarded. Tonight was one of those times.

A couple months ago I noticed that Tyler often ran during our walks to the library and asked him if we wanted to try Couch-to-5K. Unlike Devon, who I forced to do it with me at nine years old, I left the decision totally up to him. Unlike Naomi, who requested to do it at seven years old, I gave him the option of quitting if he felt like it was just too hard. He's only five, after all, and I didn't have any good reason to make him finish the program.

The C25K program, which takes you from being sedentary to running three miles (or 30 minutes) at a time, has three runs per week for nine weeks and Tyler went through week six, day one. He did well at the start, but was really starting to struggle near the end. Maybe because he's five and has short legs. Maybe because it was hot outside. Who knows? I asked him if he wanted to keep going even though it was hard, or stop and be satisfied with how much he'd already accomplished. He chose to stop a few weeks ago, but hesitated a little because I take the kids out to Cold Stone when they finish the program. He decided to pass up the reward, remembering that he can always try C25K again later if the mood strikes.

Anyway, today I decided to take him out for an "I'm proud of you for trying and think it's cool you made visible progress" reward. Not Cold Stone, as that's the reward for completion, but Miranda's Bakery because we love it and we go frequently enough that it doesn't hold the same level of being special that Cold Stone does. Unfortunately, I forgot that they close early on Sundays and the doors were locked when we arrived. I gave him the option of going back tomorrow or getting candy at the neighboring Dollar Tree right then. He chose instant gratification, so I paid for the Skittles he chose and we sat at Miranda's tables to chat while he dug in.

With the box of candy. 

With the bag that was inside the box.

With the mom who is proud of him.

With the cutest smile on any five year old.

He didn't eat all of the Skittles there and later called me into the living room to see what he'd made after we got home. Picture taken at his request.

Happy kid because of Skittles. Happy mom because of a kid who organized his Skittles into a pattern. And a proud mom because her littlest guy tried something that was hard.