What Would Your Child Do?

Before you read on, watch the following:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOlpdd7y8MI

Now, consider what your child would do under the same circumstances.  I am not suggesting you do this to see what would happen.  I'm not a proponent of lying to your child....even for the sake of comedy (and some of it is pretty funny, you have to admit) or pulling practical jokes on children.  They aren't able to understand and process the experience.  From their perspective a parent stole something that didn't belong to them and then lied about it....we try to teach our children that these are wrong behaviors.  Our lessons go somewhat out the window when we display these wrong behaviors.....even for Larry Kimbell. 

The question remains, though, what do you suppose your child would do under similar circumstances?  If I had one of the children that had thrown a fit, or an object, or a raspberry, or engaged in a little name calling I would be too embarrassed to send in the video.  I would hope that my kids would be like the ones near the end of the video.  How precious were they??  Beyond precious!

But, I'm not so sure what my kids would have done.  And, this begs the question of nature versus nurture.  Some kids are just born more sanguine....mellow....not so easily ruffled.  Some kids come out of the womb barely suppressed volcanoes of energy and emotion.  I know this from personal experience.  So, the kids that threw a fit....are they born that way?  The one's that took the news well.....are they born that way?  Or did their parents raise them....nurture them....to have those reactions?

I think it's a bit of both.  Children are born wired a certain way....of that I am sure.  Parents have a responsibility to shape and mold children.  Certain behaviors are unacceptable no matter the circumstances and those "barely suppressed volcanoes" have to be worked with a bit more than the others.  But, no matter what, there are ways in which we are not allowed to act.....I'm sure you can pick those out in the video. 

Another thing I'm fairly sure of.....the children that were accepting, sweet and loving about the situation had seen that modelled at home.  That kind of behavior is more caught than taught and those kids had caught some grace and mercy somewhere along the way.