staci_stallings@hotmail.com

My nephew is a good kid. He has been ever since the night I ran down the hospital corridor making short one-step stops at the nurse’s stations to find out where the nursery was. See, this baby was extra-special to me. Not only was he my family’s first grandbaby; he was to be my Godchild, and to me, it just doesn’t get any more special than that.

So it was with a bit of disappointment that I learned about a decade later that he was having difficulties in school. Not that school was a problem. He could do the work—he just couldn’t turn it in on time. Somehow he had gotten into a rut of not turning papers in when they were due, and at ten-points per day it was late, the habit was starting to eat into his grades. The problem was bad. It was getting worse, and my brother and his wife were at their wits’ end to get those papers in on time.

Now I knew this child was smarter than that. I knew he could remember to turn in the papers. He just had to have a good enough reason to turn them in. So I instituted THE CHALLENGE.

In all my years, I’ve never met a boy who could turn down the allure of a “surprise,” and this child was no exception. After working the details out with my brother, which amounted to if the boy could make it from the beginning of March to Easter at the end of April without missing a single submission deadline, I would give him a “surprise,” I presented my challenge. Of course he quickly accepted.

Then a strange thing started happening—papers began being turned in on time with no hassle. Work was brought home, finished, and brought back without the specter of a grounding hovering over the process. Suddenly he had a reason to turn things in, and it was working.

Unfortunately only a week before the challenge finish line, he stumbled. I still remember my brother’s voice when he called, “Stac, he was really doing good, but I don’t know what happened. He turned one in late today. I know a deal’s a deal, so if you want to call it off…”

I’ve lived long enough to know that no matter how hard we’re trying, we’re all going to fall short every now and then. However, I also know that giving a reward when the “mistake” was simply a reoccurrence of laziness helps no one. So I made him a deal—make it to the end of the year with no “slips,” and I would give him half of the surprise.

You have never seen a happier kid than my nephew was the day he opened his “half-surprise.” Sure the gift certificate to buy the game he wanted was great. However, because my whole family knew what a hurdle he had just crossed, they were praising him to no end, and he was soaking the adulation up like a sponge in a tub.

I still remember that smile. In fact, it shown in my heart the other night when my brother called to tell me they had just come from Meet the Teacher night. “You’ll never believe it, Stac. One of the teachers said he’s the most organized boy in school!”

Of course, I knew he was all along. He just had to know it.

Copyright 2003 by Staci Stallings