Parenting backfire

Hinckley has been saving up the money he gets for doing chores and stuff and he decided he was going to spend his savings. In the past 18 months of so he has asked on several occasions to play one of those claw machine games at wal-mart. We have tried to explain to him that it is a waste of money and that they rig these games to just take your money leaving you empty handed. He asked if he could spend his $2 savings on one of these games. I thought to myself for a minute and said what a PERFECT learning opportunity to give him. He has saved his money for a long time and how devastating it will be for him to see his money wasted in a 30 second game that will give him nothing. I know real nice mom huh?!

So I told him we would talk it over with daddy (Troy thought it would be a fantastic opportunity for Hinckley to learn a hard lesson of gambling your money away too) and off we went to wal-mart. Hinckley was STOKED! Mommy and Daddy were pretty stoked to and ready to have a good chat about wasting money on games. We both kind of giggled as we approached the games.

Hinks seemed nervous but excited... He picked the game that cost 50 cents a turn, put his dollar in and moved the claw. Nothing... Troy and I both looked at each other with happy grin as we made his second attempt... Hinks grabbed the joy stick moved right over a bear and pushed the red button to lower it.... This time was success... HE ACTUALLY PICKED UP THE BEAR! In my head I thought there is no way that claw will hold on to it the whole way back to the bin. THERE IS NO WAY! BOY was I WRONG.

Hinks jumped UP and DOWN and had the biggest grin on his face as the bear was dropped in the delivery bin. Troy and I both looked at each other in disbelief. No seriously... How on earth did our 6 year beat the system? I mean he has never played one of these in his life... How did he do it? Then we both started laughing HYSTERICALLY. I mean really? Is this some kind of joke? What are the odds?

So we still had a nice little chat about how we spend our money but the overall tone DID NOT go how we thought it was going to go. BACKFIRE! And he hasn't left the bear out of his sight in 24 hours. Oh well maybe next time?