Millionaire Moments

It was another Millionaire Moment for me.

My son Anirudh(was 5 years then) came home from school one Wednesday and was pretty excited about some Project that he had to complete by the coming Tuesday. After the initial excitement was over, he got busy with his schedule - snacking, going out to play with his friends, etc. That day passed somehow and we were at the dinner table chatting about his day at school as usual. My wife and me inquired as to when he was planning to start the Project and he replied that he had ample time till next Tuesday. We just continued the conversation, finished dinner and watched some TV, before going off to bed.

The next day as soon as Anirudh got home from school, both my wife and me got on his case about his project. He seemed pretty distracted with something on TV that he was watching and half heartedly answered that he would do it on Monday and submit it as per the deadline on Tuesday. Parents that we were, we wanted him to do it as early as possible so that he could be amongst the early birds in terms of submission. Our requests to him were falling on deaf ears, when I decided to try out a technique I had read somewhere, in a book on Parenting - we all do it ! Don't we?

Anyways, I told my wife loudly so that my son could hear clearly as well - "Let him decide when he should do the Project. After all he is a responsible kid and knows the importance of submission of his Project on time". My wife agreed to let him be and after a while we sat down for dinner and all was well. Generally we would watch some TV or chat before we hit the bed.
My son comes up to me and asks me if he could work on his Project, instead of watching TV before going to bed. I was pleasantly surprised but agreed nevertheless. He worked on his project for about an hour or so and completed building a Log Cabin, out of flat ice cream sticks. It was 9.00 pm now and way past his bedtime. He came to me with his Log Cabin and I was thrilled to see it - so I called my wife who was equally if not more, surprised. We hugged and kissed him and CONGRATULATED him on his achievement. We clicked some pictures of him and his Log Cabin as well and I could see the joy in his face and eyes.

It was 9.30 pm by now and I was ready to go to bed. So I went to the kitchen to have a drink of water and Anirudh came in after me and said " THANK YOU DAD". I replied " FOR WHAT DARLING? YOU REALLY DID A GREAT JOB - I DID NOTHING TO HELP" To which he looked into my eyes with his big black eyes and said " YOU BELIEVED IN ME, TRUSTED ME AND THAT IS WHY I COULD COMPLETE IT".

I was touched and had tears of joy in my eyes as I picked him up and hugged him. That was truly a Millionaire Moment for me. I was overjoyed and truly felt blessed. He is 7 years old now and still continues to surprise us with his responses. God Bless Him.

posted by Immigrant Coach @ 1:28 PM