WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM AN EGG
If you want a good idea of this whole book in a nutshell, here it is. This is an example, start to finish of how you should apply this book. It’s an egg. As I said before, I try to include my kid when I’m doing anything around the house because everything you do with them counts as quality time. I like to cook to relax and I cook a lot. And ever since my daughter was old enough to sit on the counter next to where I was working in the kitchen, that’s where she would stay. I guess she started sitting up there when she was not quite two years old, so she’s been doing it for a while now. It was always a good time for both of us and kept me from having to try to cook and watch her at the same time. which,by the way is not a good way to relax. And like most times I let her stir things or hand me utensils, anything at all that she could do just made her day because she wanted to be included so badly.
One day I had her sitting up there and I was getting ready to crack an egg and she asked me if she could crack it. Of course I said no, and I remember thinking to myself, “I am not going to let a three year old crack an egg.” And then I thought “why the hell not?” YES! Yes, honey you can crack an egg! As I hand her the egg, I start thinking that this will have to be the dumbest thing I will do all day. Then I realize it’s only 9:30 in the morning.
I didn’t really know where I was going with this, it just kind of evolved into something cool. Anyway, she takes the egg, and ever so lightly taps the egg on the bowl. Tap tap, tap tap tap tap. “No honey, you have to hit it, not tap it”. You know, I never thought I would say this, but there really are some things you only have to tell a kid once.
SMASH! She hits the bowl and the egg skids across the edge of the counter and drains straight into the silverware drawer. and to think my wife says I never put things away. Ha!
She then wipes her hands on her shirt starts to apologize and I tell her that it’s no problem and hand her another egg. I was determined to let her make a mess and not worry about it. It’s a hard thing to do if you haven’t done it before. I clean up the egg. She cracks this one by missing the bowl and hitting the counter. “I’m sorry”. “No problem”. Egg three. Cracks on the edge of bowl just enough to open, then loses open egg during second back swing. “I’m sorry”. “Honey, don’t worry. You can’t get in trouble for this. Just keep going. You’re doing great! Egg four. Yolk on the counter, shell in the bowl. Cats begin to stare. Egg five. Humpty dumpty. Egg six. Little Big Horn. Egg seven. Spring break ’85. Egg nine. Who’s in the mood for breakfast? A really big breakfast!
Needless to say, I totally forgot about what we were even making because I don’t have any idea what you can make that has nine eggs in it. I call my mom for advice. She says, “What do you mean how many eggs can you fit in an omelet? Are you mentally ill?” Yes mom, right now I kind of am. Luckily for me, I only had nine eggs. After the last egg, I asked her if she wanted to mix up the eggs, and it was right then I realized how happy, content, and involved that this child was. I then started to do the math in my head to figure out what I had to invest altogether to see my kid this happy. It was a pretty easy equation, too. Usually when I do math in my head, my hair starts to smoke a little. Cost- 80 cents. Time- 45 minutes. Effort- A bit of counter and silverware wiping. Cholesterol- Holy s---!
The coolest thing about it was to watch my kid break eggs and make a mess without getting in trouble. Wow. I don’t think many kids ever got to experience that with anything, and I know I didn’t. I don’t know if you qauite remember when you were little, trying to help your parents do something, and you were terrified because you didn’t want to screw it up. If you screwed it up you didn’t get a second chance. I’m here to tell you, people, second chances are fun to watch.
Plus I got to eat an omelet for the next six days. That’s value mister! This was the exact moment I thought up the idea for this book. So here’s where we are now. My little girl just turned five. She cracks eggs like a late night waffle house cook. She has something she is proud of. She is unafraid to try something without the stress of failure. She has better hand eye coordination. She is doing something most kids don’t get to do until they are nine or ten. And best of all, there is one more person in the house who can make me breakfast.
