We watched this video together as a family one Sunday evening:http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/mormon-messages?lang=eng&id=2010-09-18-continue-in-patience#2010-09-18-continue-in-patience
Lucy LOVED it! She decided we needed to do the marshmallow challenge. Why was she so excited about it? I think it's because she knew she could hang. She knew she could sit there and stare at a tantalizing treat and withstand the temptation to eat it. She knew she could win the prize of double treats after a few minutes of patience. I think she also knew it would just about kill her brothers. She was right on all accounts.
For our family home evening activity, per Lucy's request, we chopped our brownies into little pieces. Each child received one single piece. We instructed them that for every minute they could sit there and wait without eating it, they would receive another small piece of brownie, maxing out at 4 pieces.
The timer starts. Ben starts squirming immediatlely. "Can I eat it now?" He looks at us hopefully. "Not if you want more. If you wait you can have another piece!" "OK." He grins and goes back to staring at his little morsel of sugar. Lucy sits like a rock, unphased. Sam's doing OK, laughing a little at how Ben seems to be struggling.
One minute -- we pass out another piece to each kid. Ben promptly pops both pieces in his mouth, hops down from the table and skips away. He's satisfied with himself. After all, he held out a whole minute! Lucy's still doing fine. Sam's the one who's squirming now. He wants to eat it badly. "Why can't I just eat it? It's not fair!" "You can eat it, Sam. You just won't get any more!"
Two minutes -- they each get another piece and have just one more minute until they've gone the distance. Lucy's still stalwart and strong -- a hint of a smile showing as she stares down the brownie in front of her. Sam's crumbling at the challenge now. He's pleading, nearly in tears. "This is so dumb! Why did we have to do this?" With only 30 seconds to go he's about to cave.
Three minutes -- he makes it and whines as we pass the last piece, the fruits of his labor. Lucy reaps her reward and shows a content smile as she slowly eats each piece.
Try it -- watch your children's personalities come out with this little challenge in patience. Maybe they won't make the top 30% like in the video, but you'll find out a bit about their tolerance levels and at the least have a good laugh.
