A Child’s Creative Solution
File this under the “just had to share” department…
My two youngest boys are 5 and 4. They have a well established bedtime routine:
- read a book
- brush their teeth
- into bed
- hugs and kisses for Mommy and Daddy
- good night song from Mommy and/or Daddy
- “super-hero” story from Daddy (don’t ask)
This has been the routine for as long as either of the boys can remember and it has worked very well until recently. Then, a week or two ago, the boys started calling for Mommy or Daddy after they had been in bed a while and should have been working on getting to sleep. When one of us would check on what was wrong, the answer would be, “We need another hug and kiss.”
It was cute at first, but then it started to be an every night thing. And then it started to be a several times a night thing. So, my wife and I decided to nip it in the bud and not give in to what was obviously a bid by the boys to stay up later than their set bedtime. We explained to the boys that they needed to close their eyes and go to sleep and that Mommy and Daddy wouldn’t be giving any more hugs and kisses after the “super-hero” story was done.
One day last week, our 5-year-old stopped me on the way out of the boys’ bedroom after the last story of the evening and asked if I could get Mommy to come back in for another hug and kiss. I told him no and reminded him of what we had talked about: no more stalling after story time.
He didn’t say anything right away, but I could tell he was applying some thought to the situation. So, I waited for a minute to see if he had anything else to say. He did. “Daddy, can I give you a hug and kiss to give to Mommy then?”
Now, what could I possibly say in response to that? Of course I would accept a hug and kiss from him to give to Mommy!
It didn’t occur to me until later, but my son had very effectively created a win-win-win scenario. When he got the initial “No,” he didn’t throw in the towel. He applied some creative energy and came up with an alternative where all parties would get something they wanted.
My son got to stay up just a bit later (not much later, but enough to satisfy him). Mommy got an extra hug and kiss (indirectly) from her son. And Daddy got another beautiful story to write in the journal we’re keeping for our boys about their childhood years.
We should all learn to look at problems in our lives more creatively and come up with solutions that benefit all parties. This, I believe, is the path to true success in business and in life.
And to think it took a 5-year-old to remind me of that!
- Daniel Joseph Moran
