We went to family dinner. Family had arrived from London bearing gifts. Charmaine bought presents for the boys, but only having an 8 month old herself, she did not know what to buy the cousins here.

She bought the older 2 cousins (Luca and Devon – age 6.5 years old) these battle watches with all these functions and they were a great hit. So much so that Neil (age nearly 4) was devastated he didn’t get one. His robot t-shirt paled in comparison.

He was beside himself, going on and on about the watch and crying and really making me feel very embarrassed. I apologized to Charmaine who was apologizing profusely for creating the situation in the first place. I consciously decided I needed to do something different – dissolve/dilute the situation.

I asked my dad for a pen, sheet of paper and cello-tape. I called Neil and said I was going to draw him a watch that looked just like the ones Luca and Devon had. I called Luca with his watch and I copied the watch as best I could. Neil was intrigued and watched with glee.

I got the cello-tape and I taped the watch to his wrist and told him that his watch could do everything that Luca and Devon’s could. I added the final touch by saying, “and please, Neil, use this watch carefully and do not blow us all up!”

He was so happy, he ran off to play with the other kids using his watch just as they were. I was so chuffed it worked, I glowed with satisfaction at my newly used skill.