Growing up, a Kinder Egg was always a fun surprise. I opened up the egg, put together my toy, then played with it as I ate the chocolate and contemplated how they could possibly make it with both white and milk chocolate without it breaking.
It’s how I rolled.
I’m thankful for those times that my parents chose to surprise me with an egg and I look back on it with a lot of gratitude.
Now I’m on the other end of the Kinder Egg-giving. I love picking up surprises now and then to share or celebrate special moments with my kids.
Lots of smiles when the Christmas Kinder Eggs were discovered in their stockings. Photo copyrights: Sheri Landry.
Out shopping two weeks ago, I was thinking about how far our girls had come with their swimming lessons, and I decided to grab four Kinder Eggs (two to save for a future special moment). My girls enjoyed the Kinder Eggs and we had fun putting their surprises together. No chocolate was shared with me (reminder: get your own Kinder Egg next time too), and they seemed to enjoy the moment.
But not really.
Two days later, I found that my two ‘future’ Kinder Eggs were gone. My daughters had just gone in to my ‘do not touch’ area, took them and put them in their rooms, on their desks with a sense of entitlement that I just couldn’t get over. They had just thought these Eggs were theirs. Reflecting back, the number of their ‘pleases’ and ‘thank yous’ have been dwindling this month.
Time for a reality check.
I took my Kinder Eggs back. Not only that, I told them I threw them out.
I totally didn’t. As a lifetime Kinder-lover, I could never bring myself to do that. I hid them well, and we had a good talk about gratitude and appreciation.
It was a hard lesson. My two future-lifetime Kinder-lovers were recovering from the fact that their crazy mother actually threw their beloved eggs out. But then my oldest began to realize that it wasn’t hers to decide what to do with in the first place. We talked a lot about gestures and how the small ones are just as important as the big ones. We discussed the things they have in their home that they need, then we talked about all of the extras that they just have.
I may have sounded like my mother in there a bit. I’m realizing, that’s not such a bad thing after all.
Then we talked about what me sharing a small Kinder Egg with them means to me.
I pick out a Kinder Egg because I know they love the chocolate. Watching their excitement when they find their surprise inside fills my bucket, but my favourite part is when they say “Mom, can you help me with this?” referring to either opening the surprise, or putting it together with them. It’s my favourite moment because I am pulled into their treat time once again. I am reminded of my childhood and I am a part of their moment at the same time. So much awesomeness going on at once.
So fast forward to this week. We had a great week together, lots of great accomplishments from their hard work at school and in extra-curriculars, and the girls went to the mall to enjoy some free ride passes at Galaxyland, and not once did either of them even ask for a treat.
They were to busy appreciating the moment.
When we got home, the other two Kinder Eggs came out and things had changed for my girls. They jumped off the couch with big smiles on their faces and the thank yous flowed.
Then the bestest of the best moments that day…
“Mom, can you help me with this… please?”
Disclosure: I am a #KINDERMom brand ambassador. Opinions are my own.
Sheri publishes, and writes at This Bird’s Day where she shares all of the thoughts in her head without the voices. Sticking mainly with content for Canadians, Sheri shares family stories, product information and anything that fits into her (and her family’s) daily activities.
