Learning Patience

Some things take a long time.  That is a fact.  It is a hard one to learn and one of the ones we need to teach children at a young age.  

Sitting and waiting is boring.  Sometimes we have to wait for Nurses, or for a movie to start or for our meal to arrive.

Books take time to read, some more than others.  Games take time to play.  Food takes time to cook.  Some times a very long time.

What better way to teach a lesson like this than with a cool treat at the end to reward our patience?  

We have attempted rock candy several times and never had it work out well because we tried to rush it.  It takes time to stir the sugar into the water.  You have to stir and add more sugar, stir and add more sugar. It seems endless to me and I am no longer a child.  Then you have to boil it for longer still.  And just when you are finished playing with the scalding sugar solution it is time to pour it into a flat dish and wait for DAYS.  It is an excruciating process for a 4 year old.  

Neither child wanted to continue to stir.  The first 5 mins was fine.  After that it was all me.  I almost quit.  I'm not the one who wanted the sugar crystals, after all.

When we were finished on the stove we poured it into flat dishes to let it sit.  Each day the children would break the surface crystals only to find more watery ones.  The children eventually lost interest in breaking the crystals.  I tired of, "Can we eat it yet?"

I wasn't looking forward to the sugar rush in the first place, so we almost gave up again.

Finally, one morning the girls broke the sugar crystals and there was no more water that needed to evaporate.  This was it.  The moment that took us 7 days to get to.  Sugar Rush Day.

The children were ecstatic.  I was surprised they made it that far.  Persistence and a nice payoff at the finish line and all things are possible, even for a 4 year old.