Heads or Tails?

Yesterday we allowed our almost 6 year old to make her first independent decision 98% on her own with a family planning event we were sorting out.

My husband had Friday off, which is rather unusual for him so we decided to take the kids to Moody Gardens on Galveston Island. There are a number of fun things to do there and our Jewel really wanted to go swim in the man made pretty Palm beaches that they have there. However they also have a ton of other things to do and we couldn't fit everything into our time slot, so we gave her her first opportunity to pick one family choice activity for what we were going to experience. We helped her some by telling her what each exhibit (like the Butterfly Pyramid) had to offer, and showed her some pictures to help her in making her decision. Naturally she was having a hard time because she wanted to do them all so after waiting for a very long time, we asked her 'Name two things that you are having a hard time in picking from?' Her reply 'We went to the beach part last time, and so today I really, really love butterflies and want to see them, but I want to also see the Dinosaurs today too.' Our 3 yr. old "Mr. Happy" chimed in 'Me too! I want to see the dinosaurs too!' Since she was having a difficult time making a decision we explained to her 'Heads or Tails' and she could chose this way. She agreed. So up, up, up the quarter went and as it began to land Hannah yelled 'HEADS!', which meant we'd be visiting the Dinosaur Exhibit. It actually did land on 'heads' but even still Jewel was not completely satisfied. She was sad that we wouldn't be going to the Butterfly Pyramid and later stated that she changed her mind and wanted to go there.

We told her 'Sweetie you already made your decision and we are already walking to the Dinosaur Exhibit. We can view the butterflies the next time we come okay?' She wasn't willing to settle which is when my husband and I looked at one another as if to read each other's mind that she's not quite ready to make her own decision on something. She's still too young and mommy and daddy need to plan the day out until she is older. We still went to the Dinosaur Exhibit and the kids did enjoy it somewhat, except our 3 yr. old 'Mr. Happy' who started to cry from hearing the big dinosaurs growling noises and watching their giant mouths open up as if to grab him.

See how 'Happy' is turning cautiously to keep an 'eye' on the dinosaur? Poor little guy.

Luckily the director of the exhibit told us about a robotic dinosaur around the corner that our kids can motorize themselves so that they won't be so scared in knowing that it's just a robot. This seemed to help 'Happy' and when we went into the exhibit he hardly cried, but just a bit.

My point in the post is that sometimes we aren't 'old enough' to make our own decisions; we aren't ready for that role, which is okay. We realized this with Jewel who really struggled in making a choice. It was to hard for her, even with the coin toss. She still had a decent time, but wasn't entirely happy missing the Butterflies.

Sometimes I believe we are all like this. Making a decision can be hard, even as adults. We want to make the better choice but sometimes we don't know what that will be and we disappoint our self, which is what Jewel did. Decisions don't always come easy. That, to me, is where we need to pray, even about the small stuff. And especially about our kids making the choices. We had thought Jewel would get a big 'tickle' out of picking the event, which she did, but in the end she cried that she didn't see the butterflies. I think we all need to find the fine line of maturity when making choices with most things. Some people aren't capable or ready to make certain decisions, and we need to recognize this so that it doesn't come out poorly or even reflect upon us.

I think next time we offer Jewel to chose something we'll skip the coin toss and allow her to really think about what she prefers, one whole day ahead of our family outing. We still had a decent and fun time, though there were a few bumps in the road.

God calls us to make good decisions, using wisdom in our thinking and to follow things through, but if you are having a hard time with this He is always there to help you out. If you are having a rough decision to make seek the Lord's help to guide you, for He will meet you were you are at. He loves you to much not to. James 1:5