Friday, April 04, 2008

How to be a good parent

I had just grabbed a handful of tiny twists when Evan, four years old, walked in and said “I want a snack.”

I opened my hand and said “you can have these pretzels.”

“No,” he replied, “I want my own bowl.”

“But these are magic pretzels,” I said. “Don’t you want to try one?”

He gave me a narrow, suspicious gaze. Cautiously, he asked “how are they magic?”

“If you eat one,” I replied, “you’ll turn into a giant bear.”

He doubted the claim.

“Do you want to try one?”

He shook his head.

“Do you want me to try one?”

He gave a slow nod.

I popped a pretzel into my mouth and abruptly leapt up growling. He flinched hard, his terrified eyes saying “holy &%*#, they are magic!”

I sat back down. He paused for a moment, grinned widely, and let out a belly laugh that was part joy and part relief that this was not the day he would be eaten in his kitchen by a man-bear.

No comments: