The Magical Fidget Spinner

My seven years old daughter sulked for many days and (as usual) the reason of her grief and pain  was — I, her Mom. According to her though I am a good Mom yet many times I am unable to understand her feelings. One more complaint she has about me is: I don’t try hard to make her happy rather I tell her ‘No’ very often. OMG! Such a cruel MOM I AM!

When she talks like this I pretend to look serious while trying not to laugh. On occasions like these, sometimes I think how my mom would have reacted if I had dared to talk to her like my daughter talks to me (however, I never delve deep in this particular thought as I know PARENTING is a lot different NOW).

Anyhow, coming back to the misery of my daughter, she was sad because she wanted to buy this new toy called Fidget Spinner in the market and I had strictly told her ‘No’. The moment I told her ‘no’ she gave me a disgusting look and told me that I had broken her little heart once again. And then she played the ace that every other kid had a fidget spinner in her class and she was the only one who did not have because she had got a mean mother. She started crying her heart out and being a mother I melted. I thought how I could deny my only child such a simple pleasure worth only of a few bucks. {O.K. I know the theory of Vitamin ‘N’ (here N is for NO) and I have watched the video also in which an experienced child-psychologist is telling to give a lot of Vitamin N to kids}

I confess that as a mother I am little shrewd and immensely positive, so I decided to use this marvelous opportunity to my own benefit. I knew that my daughter was ready to do everything and anything to get the fidget spinner. I played the centuries-old trick with her, and promised her to buy the fidget spinner for her but … only if … she behaved properly for the next two weeks. (I know I am clever 🙂 )

And then started my golden period as a mother. All of a sudden my naughty daughter transformed into the most obedient kid on planet Earth. She started listening to my instructions in one go and I felt relieved to know that she was not hard of hearing. She did her home-work on her own without any reminders or my help and I was delighted to realize that she was not a slow learner. She also told me to give her a lot of greens in her lunch box as she wanted to be healthy and active. Suddenly it occurred to her that watching too much iPad could harm her eyes.

Finally, two weeks passed. As I promised to her, she got her fidget spinner as the reward of her good behaviour. Her delight was ecstatic. She hugged me and thanked me in choking voice. There were tears of happiness in my eyes too.

The next week was euphoric. My daughter was inseparable from her Fidget Spinner. Sitting there, looking at my daughter and the spinning fidget spinner in her hand, I felt amazed at my conflict-resolution capabilities and the bliss of the WIN-WIN situation. I felt happy thinking about our superb mother-daughter bonding. I was about to heave a big sigh of relief when I realized that I had already told her fourth time in a row to leave her fidget spinner and iPad (last two hours she was watching You Tube to learn new tricks with fidget spinner) and come to the dinner table but she did not budge even an inch. I also reminded her once again that her home-work was still pending and she was to submit it the next day.

Next moment I found my daughter staring at me with a twinkle in her eyes and a smile on her lips. The sigh of relief changed to an instinctive warning. Quickly, my daughter got up from the couch and went to her room telling me that she did not want to eat the boring dinner of spinach-corn sandwich and mushroom soup.

(Yup …. Make Believe Is Over)

I suddenly realized the bewitching magical power of the fidget spinner but I was unable to decide that the spell it cast was on me or on my daughter. My head was spinning and body was fidgeting; And the only thought on my mind was: Who Spinned Whom?

Author: serenediva (Sonia)

A Thoughtful Observer View all posts by serenediva (Sonia)