The Story of the Beans

Once upon a time there was this Mom who was at the end of her rope. Every time she tried to get her kids to help around the house, all she could hear was a chorus of, "Awww! Do we have to Mom?" quickly followed by some well-practiced avoidance maneuvers...like fast-moving fits of severe fatigue and vitally important phone calls that had to be made immediately. It was getting out of hand fast!

So thinking back to her days as a psychology major in college she devised this great "positive reinforcement" project in hopes that it would help get her kids excited to help. She and her clever husband picked a super exciting prize and a date on the calendar and promised the kids that if they filled this large jar with beans before that date that the whole family could take a day off of school and work and go to Busch Gardens one last time before the season ended.

Sounds good so far...right?

Of course it could not be as smooth as that. Within a few weeks of the commencement of their new bean economy it was discovered that the chosen date also happened to be the same date as the school Fall Festival and even more disappointing the church's annual trunk or treat activity! Think friends, costumes, food aplenty, and tons of candy and you'll see the appeal!


So now the dazzle had started to wear off a little, after all the alternative of not filling the jar wasn't too bad either. But with some last minute adrenaline pushes and motivational speeches they finally made it!

Then it was time to make good on the promise. On a beautiful autumn morning in October the family set off in the car for the two hour drive to the land of roller coasters!

Good fun was had by all, young and old!

Some new family members were added to the family!

All was well...

then the kids started hearing about all the excitement they'd missed. Even the Mom started feeling a little disappointed that she hadn't been there to defend her pie title.

Mixed feelings of disappointment and jealousy ensued when she saw that the golden pie plate has been passed to other hands...at least until next year when there will be a grand face-off. Worst of all, she didn't even get to try any of her competition's winning pie...a disappointing fate for a pie connoisseur ! :(

Then, since they'd gotten back home so late at night from their trip, the Mom's eleven mile run got pushed late into the morning, which resulted in running 8 of those miles in the wind and pouring rain. Hence the red-faced, dripping wet picture that her son was kind enough to shoot of her. Thanks Spence!



All that because of some beans.

So what's the moral of this long-winded story?

• Don't choose a prize/date where you have to take a family vote over which place they'd rather go.
  

The end.