The Fancy Dress Ghost

My youngest one all of 7yrs  wanted to be a ghost for the upcoming fancy dress competition at school. I was aghast. “Ghosts never win” I told him but he refused to budge from his decision(try arguing with him) The choices I offered were the safe ones. The ones that always win prizes and the ones all other children’s moms were bound to make.  Cartoon characters, King, actor, a politician, doctor, astronaut anything…but he stuck his ground and walked up to the stage, stood right in the middle of it and fell… Everybody thought something had gone wrong when he began to rise slowly and it was then that the auditorium rose in applause. The ghost had won over kings and astronauts. He won the first prize.

I would have been just as happy even if he hadn’t for he taught me something that I had long forgotten. After listening to the various other choices I had offered he had seriously added “you don’t have to win them all mummy, sometimes it’s fun to just participate.”Couldn’t argue with that and then when his dad asked but why a ghost, his seven year old self resurfaced saying “I want to scare everyone, it would be so much fun to see all my friends and teachers react to seeing a ghost” He got what he wanted and I came home thinking it is fine to let your child make their own choices (sometimes:)