Bartering for the Properly Tied Tennis Shoe

Shoe laces….




They were Winston’s nemisis most of the school year….mine too really because I was the one who had to keep his shoelaces tied!! Every morning it was always an enormously painful part of the getting ready for school process…his tennis shoes were starting to get too small so all the twisting and the pushing and the loosening of the laces was just the beginning of the torture….then it was trying to keep those nasty dirt-stained laces tied only to see them dragging the ground before we even got onto the sidewalk in front of our house!!

So I did what any responsible parent would do…I took the easy way out and bought the boy some velcro style New Balances. Clearly I addressed the deficiency head on didn’t I?? Instead of continuing the battle and actually helping him to LEARN how to tie them himself – I removed the obstacle….BRILLIANT I say!!

Hold the thought about the shoelace thing…. there's a point coming I promise.

So, the other night the random topic of Root Beer Floats came up….I was trying to explain them to Winston as he was not familiar with the traditional 1950’s soda pop treat. Personally I am not a fan but I remember my parents enjoyed them and would make them sometimes. My Mom preferred to make hers with Coke instead of Root Beer and unfortunately as much as I WANTED to like them, I just didn’t - the Coke Floats or the Root Beer Floats - just not my thing. So back to the story...Winston loves root beer and on rare occasions has a root beer if we’re out to dinner as a special treat. He was completely enamored with the concept of ice cream floating in a glass of root beer...2 of his favorite things served together…again... BRILLIANT! His next question…”Will you make me one tomorrow?”

My reply….”I tell you what Winston – I will buy the ice cream and the root beer and make you a BUNCH of root beer floats as soon as you learn to properly tie tennis shoes.”.



Well you can imagine my surprise when he ran and got my tennis shoes (you recall, the poor boy doesn’t have a pair of his own shoes with laces) and proceeded to tie those laces PERFECTLY!! I even made Joe watch the second shoe as a witness.

So I bet you’ll never guess what Winston’s latest dessert request is??

Even with generic brand ingredients....Winston says....Root Beer Floats.....BRILLIANT!! (Lilly doesn't seem to mind either!)