My four year-old son, Jaken, is an Easter Egg hunting junkie.  He’s usually the last one to leave the field of battle because he is searching for that last overlooked egg.  I often look for opportunities to take his nature and put him in situations where he can learn important life lessons. This is a story where Jaken learned the blessings of will and determination…with a little quick thinking on my part.

We had just come home from our family Easter get together and three different egg hunts when Jaken discovered an egg in the front lawn that we had dropped during our rushed exit early that morning.  He yelled at the top of his lungs, “The Easter Bunny came while we were gone!”  I thought quickly and told him that he probably hid some eggs in the back yard.

I told him to go around the side of the house, which takes a minute, and I used the time to run out on the back deck and throw a few plastic eggs around before he got there.  I let him hunt for these eggs under his own steam.  He quickly found the seven or eight eggs I had thrown around and spent another 20 minutes looking, making sure he had gotten every one.  

He came in excited that he had found all the eggs in the back yard and he quickly announced that he was going out front because, “If there was one, there should be more.”  The plot thickened here because there were no more eggs out front and I knew he would stick with it and “keep on trying” as I often coach, and there was no opportunity for reward. 

I was watching him from the window as he searched every nook and cranny out front.  I had ten or so minutes to think about what to do next.  I knew that the blessing of will and determination is a juicy moment that happens when success shows itself the moment before you hit the give up button and I wanted Jaken to have that experience.    

I saw Jaken hitting his own give up button so I opened the window and suggested he look around the side one more time.  I did this to put him out of sight and I quickly stashed an egg where he would see it as he was coming back to the front door.  I watched as that incredible moment happened.  Jaken was coming to the door with his head hung low in disappointment, and then he saw the coveted egg.  His face lit up and he ran into the house to tell me the story of how he stuck with it and found that last egg.  I hugged him and told him how proud I was. 

I left the lesson to be learned by the experience, not my words.  It was a solo flight in his mind and I wanted him to have the glory of realization as well.  Take moments like these to instill life lessons that will serve your children.  They probably present themselves more often than we all realize.  The best lessons our children will learn are the ones they learn on their own, but we can be there to help facilitate the experience.