The Biggest Prize on Horse Show Day
A Not So Little Parenting Win
The big story was not that I won ribbons at the horse show. I usually do. The big win of the day was seeing my son being quietly charitable.
I have always modeled giving behavior for my kids. It’s a very important value to me I have hoped to instill in them. I would always bring them along to deliver meals to families in town who were dealing with difficulties through a school program set up to help families going through challenging circumstances. I was generally physically unable to carry food safely to someone’s door because of my disability. The perfect solution was to bring my kids and have them do it.
It’s hard to know how much our messages get through to our kids. Today was one of the days I was able to tell my years of trying to instill a giving nature to my son were a success.
I asked friends and family for donations to benefit my riding facility a week before the horse show. I suggested a small amount to my sons because I thought they weren’t keen on giving away their money. They each agreed to donate $10.
The horse show was today. I needed to get the money before we went to the show. It was when I asked my younger son how he was going to pay me I got a little push back. He started to suggest he would donate his photography services instead. He is a professional photographer and shot the photo of me I used for this story:
There was a bit of back and forth with me explaining that his photography would only benefit me and not the charity. He was arguing about what method of payment he would use. I suggested using the Venmo app; one we use frequently to reimburse each other.
While I was looking at my computer to get email addresses to put on my donation form for the other donors, I saw a notification from Venmo. My son had sent me $40.
I thought maybe he had made a mistake. It was interesting that he hadn’t said anything more. He had snuck in a much larger donation. I’m not sure if I was more proud of him for simply doing it, or the fact that he was so quiet about it.
