So last night Scott was in charge of Family Home Evening. Lately we've been into scripture story reenactments (aka the only thing that keeps Henry's attention for longer than five minutes) so Scott chose the Bible story of Daniel and the Lions' Den.
Things were going along fine, Henry was getting into the story and actually enjoying playing the part of Daniel.
So we're building, building, BUILDING the excitement as the wicked king (yea, we forgot his name) decides to toss old Daniel into the Lions' den. Henry was up on his bed looking down at us ferocious lions (which consisted of me, Scott, a very intimidating Ruby, a stuffed lion, and a stuffed tiger cub -- very convincing crew).
Apparently our ferocious growls were a bit too realistic though because suddenly Daniel (aka Henry -- wink, wink) was a little hesitant to come down into the den. So Scott and I start encouraging and coaching by saying stuff like, "It's okay. The Lord promised to protect Daniel for choosing the right." "Don't worry Daniel, you were a good boy so Heavenly Father said He wouldn't let you get hurt." "The lions won't hurt you. Just come get in the den."
Yay! Our positive reinforcement worked! Henry comes jumping off his bed, eager to be enveloped by his new furry friends when don't you know, his excitement causes his jumping to become a little unbalanced and WHAM! He smacked his face on the foot board of his bed! And the crying began...
So much for being protected. Hopefully he won't have bad memories associated with the story of "Daniel and the Lions' Den" for the rest of his life. Hopefully he won't think that the Lord (or worse, HIS PARENTS!) lied to him.
As my dad always says, "No good deed goes unpunished." We were trying so hard!
Our little Daniel pulled through after all. He even pet his ferocious lions after all they put him through!
