the orange theory

We were talking with some friends of ours who are also parents, and an interesting subject came up. Turns out that in both their family and ours, the dads tend to want to spoil/indulge the kids more often, while the moms are more consistent with setting limits/boundaries/call it what you will. Stephen related this story, and how he sees it as a metaphor for parenting:

Stella Rose is a huge fruit fan. She will eat two whole oranges in one setting if you let her. We usually cut the oranges into wedges so they are easy for her to eat. We would cut them up, put all 6 or 8 pieces on a plate, and let her go crazy. But, we noticed, she would only take the easiest bites from each piece, then ask for more. So I started handing them to her one wedge at a time. Sure enough, she would eat every last bit of pulp on the piece, then ask for more and repeat the process.

His metaphor here was that if you give a child a great quantity of something (oranges or possessions or treats or whatever), they get so distracted by how many they have, and how much more they can get, that they don't even enjoy it. Whereas if they are given things on a smaller or slower scale, it really enhances the gift - allowing them to focus on it and really enjoy it. I agree.