I Made My Daughter Cry Today

We were reading together from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Tanglewood Tales:

“If you are as brave as I think you, and as you have need to be, your own bold heart will teach you that there is but one way of dealing with a mad bull. What it is I leave you to find out in the moment of peril. As for the fiery breath of these animals, I have a charmed ointment here, which will prevent you from being burned up, and cure you if you chance to be a little scorched.”

So she put a golden box into his hand, and directed him how to apply the perfumed unguent which it contained, and where to meet her at midnight. “Only be brave,” added she, “and before daybreak the brazen bulls shall be tamed."
Mom: “Okay, that’s all for today. We’ll continue the story next week.”

DD: “No, no! Mom. We HAVE to keep reading!”

Mom: “You will have to be patient and wait a little while…”

DD: “Oh, Mommy, don’t do this to me. Pleeeeeaaaze? We just have to go on. That was SOO short. Pleeeaze?” (Tears are now in her eyes, and she is actually on her knees beside me with hands clasped.)

For a moment I almost gave into the temptation to read on. But like a true Stoic (and because I know this daughter has a particular flair for dramatics), I came to myself just in time and stood my ground.

(For more information on the SLOW READING of school books, go here.)