Choices can be hard to make

One of the fun things I get to do at our farmers’ market booth is to ask kids to identify what my button magnets look like.  Sometimes after doing this, a parent or grandparent will ask the child to choose one to take home.  One recent child was having a hard time choosing.  I was so impressed that her mom knew just what to do to help her make a choice.  “If the choice were a flower or a butterfly, which would you choose?”  “If the choice were a butterfly or a turtle, what would you choose?”  “If the choice were a turtle or a bear, what would you choose?”  “If the choice were a….”  Each time the child found it easy to make a choice.  As she got toward the end of the choices, mom repeated some of the choices with the latest choice. Finally, she said, “It looks like you’d like a pig.  Is that right?”  Sure enough, the child chose a cute little pig with a pink nose and ears.

I remember my father-in-law saying that one hard part of living so long is that there have become so many choices.  I agree!  Whether we are helping someone else make a choice or we are trying to make one for ourselves, perhaps narrowing down the choices is a good way to make decisions.  I’m planning on trying this process for my next challenging decision.