Little Miss

There once was a little girl who refused to eat her breakfast. Every morning, she made everyone’s life miserable because no matter what was offered to her, she did not want it. Her parents tried pancakes, cereal, bacon, eggs, sausage, biscuits, oatmeal, and any other breakfast food you can think of, but nothing would please the little girl.

One day, her father decided that enough was enough. He was tired of trying to eat his own breakfast with all of her screaming and crying. He was tired of his wife’s unhappy face because she could find nothing her daughter would eat. He had often told her to let the child go hungry, but the wife would refuse, reminding him that breakfast was, after all, the most important meal of the day. And so, the once happy couple was starting to grow cross and negative with each other because every day began with the young girl’s tantrums.

Waiting until his wife was out of the room, the father grabbed a pillow off the couch, threw it outside, grabbed his daughter and her bowl of porridge and her spoon and quickly threw them all outside and into the yard. So strategic was his throw that she landed, sitting upright, on the pillow with her bowl and spoon in her hand and not a drop of porridge spilled on her pajamas. He shut the door and was ready to eat in peace.

The daughter was so stunned that she did a most amazing thing. She stopped crying. She looked down at the bowl of porridge in her lap, and she did another most amazing thing. She took a bite and then another and another and another and . . . well, you get the idea. She ate until it was all gone.

The next day, the father cooked her porridge for breakfast again, and she began to scream. He threw her outside where she ate in peace and quiet and again finished the entire bowl. Each day, the father fed her the same way, and each day she finished her food. He tried putting a table outside, but she screamed.

And so you ask, what is the moral of this story? You can’t teach an old dog new tricks? Be kind to others and they’ll be kind to you? No, no, no. Neither of these is the moral of this story. The lesson learned from this, dear friends, is the grass is always greener on the other side of the closed door.