Marcus earns a marshmallow

Marcus just ate a half a pack of gum, that he found in my purse, in two minutes flat. I picked up the empty pack and stared down at him long and hard. He knew he was caught.

He gulped the large wad down in guilt and looked me right in the eyes and said,

"It was an accident, Mom"


It reminded me of yesterday evening when Brent taught the family home evening lesson. He used a marshmallow demonstration that he picked up at the Priestbood session of General Conference last weekend.

He got two marshmallows out of a bag then sat Marcus down at the table. One marshmallow was placed in front of his son and then he carefully explained to him that Dad didn't want him to eat the marshmallow for one minute. If he waited then he would give him the other one in his hand and he could eat both.

The time began and I made Brent a bet that he would never make it. It didn't take long for him start squeezing it and then lifting it part way to his open mouth. It really was a hard thing Dad was asking of him. Finally 9 seconds short of the minute he could no longer stand it and it disappeared between his lips.

No sooner was that one gone and he was reaching out for the second one Dad was holding. He was pretty sad when he was reminded that he couldn't get it because he didn't wait.

Caroline also loves marshmallows AND ATTENTION so she wanted to try next. She had no problem and he even made her wait for 3 minutes. Marcus watched the whole thing unfold and the second marshmallow rewarded, and was determined to have another go.

Okay, he would get that chance, but this time his Dad wanted him to wait for two minutes. So we started in. Every 15 seconds he would lose his resolve and start lifting the marshmallow off the table. We had all been instructed to be silent and not coach him either way, but Caroline, across the table, couldn't help herself. She kept one finger in front of her, and each time the marshmallow started to go in, she starting wagging her finger at him. Small enough that Dad off to the side could hardly see, but Marcus took note of Caroline's warning. Finally the two minutes passed and we exploded in congratulations. As soon as he heard our cheers, he popped that thing into his mouth so fast we hardly saw it happen.

After this we had a lesson on the fact that good things come to those who wait. Dad taught us that we should never give into immediate gratification and loose out on the blessings of waiting until the right time. That can apply to a lot of things don't you think?

I really felt like we were being taught from the Master. Any 40 year old who is willing to sport his mother's 17 year old buick around during the prime years of his life is the perfect person to teach us this lesson.