The Reward

Girlfriend got a sunny report for a solid week! Huge excitement followed this accomplishment. Calls were made to grandparents and her aunt. Strangers congratulated her. It was a milestone.

Weeks earlier, a promise was made. "Five sunnys in a row earns you a trip to Target for a reward of your choosing." We really thought we were in for it now. What would she choose? This was going to backfire. It would be a toy we would find to be completely obnoxious and it would of course, cost a small fortune.

We let her decide. We didn't steer her away or to a particular area of the store. We didn't set a monetary limit. She earned this. Hell, it felt like we all earned this! We looked and looked. We discussed possible choices. No toy seemed to grab her. We wandered some more.

Suddenly, she found IT. THE reward she was searching for. She made HER choice. We were quite surprised. "Surely, you want something else?! Come on, honey, you can have ANYTHING!" Why were we questioning her? Her reward was cheap and would not be lingering around the house driving us crazy for months to come. She was sure. Very sure.

That evening, our child selected a reward costing under two dollars. It was something that our poor, deprived little girl of five years of age had been denied her entire life. Something, that when asked for on previous occasions, received a big, fat, "NO, you CANNOT have THAT EVER".

Her choice? Her reward for an entire weeks worth of good behavior? A simple yet unbelievable combination of artificial ingredients that probably have a shelf life longer than our own child's life thus far.

HOT FUDGE SUNDAE POP TARTS.

The End.