Silly Daddy

I have the most silly daddy, but he's such a nice daddy.  He's always so nice to me.

This morning, my daddy said to me, "If you do all your chores today and listen to all I say and tell you to do, I will give you a big cookie at the end of the day!"

I was very excited and asked to see the cookie now.  He smiled and said, "Trust me, sweetie.  Just do everything right, and I'll give you the cookie."

Of course I trust my daddy, so I set out to do everything he asked me to do.  He asked me to put my clothes away, and I did!  He asked me to wash the dishes, and I started to, but washing dishes is hard, so towards the end, I just rinsed them off and left them in the sink.  I'm sure mommy will finish them later.

Then Daddy asked me to work on my homework for one hour.  I started and I tried, but my desk is right by the window and it was so shiny and happy outside.  Surely Daddy didn't really need me to work for the full hour.  It was so nice outside!  He's always telling me to go play outside instead of playing video games.  I was sure he would want me to go play outside instead of doing homework if he had only noticed how nice it was outside.  So I sneaked out into the backward after half an hour and played with my soccer ball.

When I came back inside, Daddy was sitting there reading a paper.  I felt a little guilty, but he looked at me and smiled and I smiled back and ran on up to my room.  I tidied up a bit more even though Daddy didn't ask me to!

Then Daddy asked me to help my little sister with the tower she was building.  My little sister is kind-of  a brat.  She's so little and frustrating and can't do much right.  But I was still feeling back about not quite doing what Daddy had asked before, so I went and tried to help.  But she is so annoying.  She'd ask me to help and then she'd get upset when I did.  Eventually, I go angry and knocked her stupid tower down and of course she cried and Daddy came to see what was wrong and I said the tower fell.  He looked at me a little bit like he wasn't so sure and I almost blurted out that I did it, but then he just said, "Well help her build it up again.  And be nice to her about it."

I was much nicer the second time.  And my sister didn't seem like quite such a brat.  But she is a real brat.

Then my Daddy asked me to help Mommy bring in the groceries for dinner.  I did that really good!  Mommy is nice and pretty.  After we unloaded the groceries, Mommy asked if I wanted to help make dinner and I said, "Okay!"  I love helping Mommy make dinner!

After I had finished helping, I went back out and watched some TV.  My daddy smiled at me.  He's such a nice daddy.  I had almost forgotten about what he promised me at the beginning of the day.  But then Mommy called us for dinner and I remembered!

"Eat all your peas," Daddy said.  I might have let a couple of them fall onto the floor when no one was looking, but I ate all the rest.

"Can you please pass the butter," Daddy said.  That was easy to do.  I did that and was very happy.

After dinner, Daddy pulled me aside.  "So," he said.  "How was your day?  Did you do everything I asked you to."

I beamed and nodded, thinking about the yummy cookie I was about to get.

Daddy had been holding the cookie behind his back, and now he held it out in front of him.  I got a big smile and I reached for it.

But Daddy pulled the cookie away.  "Hold on," he said.  "Are you sure you did EVERYTHING I asked you to do?"

"Yes Daddy, of course!" I said.

"Everything?  Just like I asked."

I frowned and my tummy felt all heavy and sad.  I had kind-of done what Daddy asked, but not quite.  Surely he knew that I had tried really hard.  That should be good enough!

"I tried really hard, Daddy!" I said.  "I tried really hard."

"But were you perfect?" he asked.

I looked down and shook my head no.  I felt the tears coming.  It was so sad and so mean.  That cookie could have been mine if I had just done everything Daddy said just like he said it.  But I didn't.  It was too hard.

I felt something under my chin and realized it was Daddy's hand and I looked up at Daddy.  "Sweetie," he said.  "You know this cookie is from me, right?"

"Yes," I muttered.

"It's my cookie," Daddy said.  "I could do whatever I'd like with it."

"Yes, Daddy," I muttered again.

Daddy looked right into my eyes.  "You know that you can't have this cookie unless I choose to give it to you, right?"

"Yes," I said, not quite so muttering.  I knew Daddy was right.  He's always right.

"Did you earn this cookie?" he asked.

"No," I admitted.

"Could I still give it to you if I wanted to?" he asked.

My face lit up.  "Yes!" I said.  "Oh yes, of course, Daddy!  You can still give me the cookie!  Please, Daddy!  I know I wasn't perfect, but I tried, and I will try harder tomorrow!"

He smiled at me.  "So you admit you didn't do it all perfectly?" he asked.  "And you're sorry and will try harder?"

"Yes of course!"  I was so excited.  I might get my cookie after all!

But he still didn't give it to me.  Not yet.

"And you understand that I'm the only one who can give you this cookie?" he said.  "And if you trust that I will give it to you, then I will give it to you?"

I was getting a little nervous.  I wasn't sure if Daddy was actually going to give me the cookie or not.  "You are saying you will give me the cookie?" I asked.

"Yes," Daddy said.  "You just have to trust me."

I was a little unsure.  I wasn't sure if he meant I was getting the cookie now or if I would get it later, but he seemed to be saying I would get it.  So I nodded.  "Yes, Daddy," I said.  "I trust you."

He smiled.  "Here you go, Sweetie," he said.  And he held out the cookie to me.

This time when I reached for it, he didn't pull it away!  I was so happy!  I didn't have to be perfect!  I just had to try really hard, and to trust Daddy.

I took a bite of the cookie, so happy, but then something bothered me.  "Daddy?" I asked after I had swallowed that first piece.  "What if I can never be perfect?" I asked.

He smiled and squeezed my shoulder.  "You don't have to be perfect," he said.  "You just have to trust your Daddy and say you're sorry when you do something wrong.  I know what's in your heart, Sweetie."

I smiled and marched happily away with my cookie.  My Daddy didn't seem to demand too much of me, but he was such a nice daddy.  I wanted to try to do what was right and make him happy anyway.