We enjoyed the passes we had to the big amusement parks for the past few months. Well, towards the end, Cary and I were pretty much over it, and the kids seemed more interested in the gaming section than the rides. We were there last week and looking around at the different games. Most of the games are the kind that shoot out tickets after a game and the tickets can be traded in for prizes. The day that we were there, AJ saw a new machine that had prizes inside of it and the prize that he saw and wanted was a big rack of tickets! I said to him that I have never seen anyone win on those kind of machines, and I suggested that he play a different game, where I knew he would get about 40 tickets.
He would not be denied! He had his eye on that big ol' rack of tickets and he wanted it! He watched other people playing the machine and tried to see if there was any method to it. All you had to do was pull a lever and a wheel spun around until it got to a number. In three spins, you had to accrue enough points to get past a high number where you had the option to choose a little prize, or you could choose three more spins to get to a higher number and a larger prize. Cary gave the kids his last coin to play the game. They each took a turn pulling the lever and were able to get to the next level. So they took turns again...and WON the tickets!!! I received a lesson then in watching what I say...I always go along with the big dreams that AJ has, like his invention ideas...why didn't I support his smaller goal? After all, it's often with a series of smaller goals achieved that one has the confidence to go for the larger goals.
How many tickets were there? 1000! Well over the 40 he may have gotten on the 'safe' game.
Even though I was trying to avoid him being disappointed by not playing the risky machine, he proved to me that sometimes, you just have to take a gamble ...you never know! And he is right...life itself is a gamble and I have not always been the one to play by the rules and take the 'safe' path.
A funny little thing though...once he had the tickets, he had no idea of what he wanted to do with them. So the kids decided that as they had all contributed, they would just split them so they each got a variety of candy and novelties.
2 comments:
I love this story about the tickets. We had an experience with my 7 year old making a new friend at the huge July4th fireworks display. She was so sad we did not get her phone number we both worked on creating we found the family again. As we were leaving with a few thousand people I suddenly saw them 1/2 a block ahead. We called out and exchanged numbers. The girls have been calling each other ever since.
That is fantastic!
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