Monday, February 14, 2011

Amazing Kid Story

I am never more proud of my children then when they show an act of kindness.  It is so sweet that my son loves getting letters from his pen pal at the nursing home, or my almost four year old shares his treats from holidays or school with the rest of his family.  When I was a child I think I was a treat hoarder and well I didn't really hoard them because I ate all of my candy so fast but I didn't like to share it with anyone.  My eleven year old is so sweet when she sees that her littlest brother is driving me crazy and she'll just take him and read to him or play with him and I don't even have to ask.  But this recent Amazing Kid story is about a child that is not my own.  Here's how the story goes:

My in-laws invited my husband and I to a National Wildlife Turkey Federation banquet in a neighboring town this past Saturday night and we were looking forward to a night out.  We hired a sitter for the kids and headed out for the evening.  At the banquet my husband noticed a kids game where the prize was a Red Rider bb gun.  We had bought a Red Rider bb gun for our oldest son a few years ago at a banquet and thought it would be great if we could get one to save for our youngest son.  The object of the game was to drop quarters in a gigantic jar of water and get them to land in one of three shot glasses in the bottom.  Since we didn't have our children with us we asked some friends of ours, who brought their kids, if we could borrow their seven year old daughter for the game.  The little girl was happy to play the game for us and she did a great job and won us several tickets.  We put our number 41 on all of the tickets and threw them into the bin.  The little girl was also playing for herself and won several chances to which she put her number, 39 on the tickets.

It came time for the Red Rider bb gun drawing and the number drawn was 39.  We were thrilled she won the gun for herself and she looked so proud as she walked up to receive her gun.  Her picture was taken for the local paper and she carried her bb gun in a box back to her seat.  About five minutes later she approached my husband and I with her mom and the box carrying the bb gun.  Her mother explained to us that the little girl had told both of her parents earlier in the night that if she won the gun she'd like to give it to our son.  We were in shock and of course told her that definitely was not necessary but we greatly appreciated her kindness.  She explained that she had actually been playing the game for our son the whole time because she already had two bb guns at home and she insisted we take the Red Rider gun.  I was almost in tears, it really meant a lot to me that this little girl wanted to give my son a prize that she won.

I gave her a hug and the next day had our almost four year old son call her and thank her on the phone.  He was so excited and said, "I thank you soooooo much for my gun.  That was really nice of you."   I sent her a picture of my son holding his new gun and will be sending her something special in the mail for her kindness.  It still amazes me that such a young child did this and I think she set a great example for my children to follow.

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong.  Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.  ~George Washington Carver

1 comment:

  1. What a sweet little girl! Her parents are raising a thoughtful and selfless child! They should be proud!

    Love you Danae! xoxo

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