The Last Shall Be First - The First Shall Be Last

If you remember reading "Do Over - Yahtzee and Life" a post I wrote awhile ago, you will see that one experience changed my life.

In our home, when someone is being selfish or pushing their way in front etc, I tried to come up with a way when they were young that would stop that behavior. When we would be having ice cream or a treat and one of the children pushed to the front, I would use the scripture found in Matthew 20:16 which says: "The first shall be last and the last shall be first."

At that point I would take the person at the back and have them be served first. I would also make the person that was pushing serve everyone else before getting their portion.

It didn't take the girls long to figure out that being greedy in our home didn't pay.

Many, many times over the years while serving family, friends and strangers I have had children pushing or saying, "Me first!" or, "I get the biggest piece" to which I reply...."The first shall be last and the last shall be first." I then send that child to the end of the line.

However, when that child finally gets their turn, I explain how greed works and ask how they feel if they share with several people and only one says "thank you." Then, I ask which person they would want to share with again in the future? Without fail, they tell me the one that said "Thank you" to them.

I then give them extra of whatever I am serving and give them a hug. I have had children many years after tell me they remember when I did that. I asked if it was a good event or bad. They tell me it was good.

Also when running a carnival booth or giving service and someone say "Thank You" to me, I give them an extra treat or something. While doing the fourth of July booth, I only had one or two children out of several hundred tell me "thank you" and I gave them each another prize or tattoo for free because they said thanks.

At our house the other day, my youngest came in the kitchen and her older sister was getting a bowl of ice cream. My youngest said, "She is getting a big bowl, can I get a big bowl? How come she gets a big bowl?"

Whining at my home isn't an option so I was a bit taken back by her comments. I actually didn't care what type of bowl either had. However, I did care how my youngest was acting about the bowl size. So, I grabbed a large serving bowl and dumped two half gallon containers of ice cream into the bowl and placed a cherry on top and asked her "Was this bowl big enough?"

She was stunned for a moment and my third Princess came in just about then and they all thought it was funny. I told them they could share the bowl. We thought it was a good picture moment so you can see how much Princess number four had in her bowl when Princess number 5 started whining.

They actually didn't want the whole bowl. I figured if she ate that much it would cure her ever complaining about not getting enough another time but as I said, I really didn't care how much they ate.

They served themselves a bowl and we put the rest back into the containers but they all had a good laugh.

I did think it was funny that the only person that didn't finish the ice cream they dished up into their bowl was Princess number 5 who whined that she wanted more in the beginning. She ended up throwing hers out when no one wanted to finish it for her.

I guess being the youngest she didn't get as much of the preaching as the older children. I have to say that it has now become the joke of the house however. When someone is serving something, they joke "complain" about the size and we all have a good laugh remembering the LARGE bowl of ice cream.