Life Lessons

A few weeks ago we picked up a very excited Aidyn from church school. They had announced that they were having a coloring contest and the winner would receive 4 tickets to go see the new VeggieTales movie. Aidyn is a self-proclaimed 'Artist' and loves to color. She was so excited about this contest and was totally convinced she would win. So she started coloring. She got about half-way done with her picture when her little brother decided to get involved in the process. He scribbled brown marker across her pristine VeggieTales picture. To say she was mad would be an understatement.

The next time we went to church we noticed there were extra pictures laying out for the contest. Perfect. Aidyn still had 3 days to color a new picture and I grabbed a copy for Nolan so he would leave hers alone. For 3 days she worked on that picture. Meticulously. She was convinced she'd win. Fearing that might not be the outcome I tried to slide in a little motherly wisdom. "You know, someone else might win. Just try your hardest." "Work hard and be proud of what you did, even if you don't win." Blah, blah, blah... Meanwhile, Nolan looked at his picture once, scribbled on it with 4 different colors and walked away. Great attention span.

We dropped both kids' pictures off that Wednesday at choir practice. Aidyn was very excited about her impending victory. Friday afternoon the phone rang, it was a call from church. Oh, thank God!

Church Lady: Hi, this is the church lady. I'm calling about the coloring contest.
Me: Oh, good!
Church Lady: We ended up just doing a drawing of all the entries so it would be fair to everyone.
Me: Oh sure, sounds fine.
Church Lady: I have good news!
Me: Awesome!
Church Lady: Nolan won!
Me: WHAT!!?!!?!!?!! (In my head 'Oh crap, this is going to be ugly.')

As I hang up the phone I am trying to figure out how to handle this one. I can lie or tell the truth. This was a tough call for me because I knew there was going to be hell to pay for the truth. Ugh! I decided the truth was the best way to go. Wish me luck....
Here is how that conversation went...

Me: That was the church lady. She was calling about the coloring contest. She said that they decided to draw the winner out of a hat instead of judging which picture was best.
A: Did I win?
Me: So the winner wasn't necessarily which picture was best, they just picked it randomly.
A: Did I win?
Me: We need to remember to be proud of how hard we worked. It doesn't matter if we win or not, just that we tried our best.
A: Did I win???
Me: Um, no. Actually, they picked out Nolan's picture. Isn't that fun, now we all get to go to the movie!
A: (tears pouring down her face, falling on the floor) WHAT?!?! How could he have won? He didn't even try, he just scribbled! I worked so hard! I was so proud of my picture! I tried my hardest! This isn't fair!!!! Sob, sob, sob...
Me: I know, blah, blah, blah, consoling for 5 minutes, blah, blah, blah...
N: I won? (stands over A who's still on the floor crying, points finger at her) I BEAT YOU!!!!!!
Me: Lord help me.

The rest of that day was a mess. Luckily, things settled down by Sunday which was the day we were going to the movie. Both kids were excited to go to the show and had a nice time. But I have to say, that is a pretty tough life lesson for a 5 year old to swallow.