The claw game...the ultimate sucker bet in the arcade. The game made famous by the alien toys in Toy Story (link) "The CLAW" and infamous for its impossible success rate. Well, I let my 4 year old son spend his only $10 "arcade allowance" on the claw in about four and a half minutes on vacation. My son walked away with nothing but It was the greatest $10 this dad has ever spent.
After circling the arcade twice my son decided that he wanted to play the claw game. It was filled with stuffed video game characters Mario, Luigi and Kuppa and others - a venerable who's who of animated celebs for the Pre-K set. About $2 in and knowing that the odds were stacked heavily in favor of the claw, I tried tactfully to convince the little man that he should try a other game. "How about we both ride these motorcycle racers, Buddy"... "Oh look they have skee-ball, " ..."Want to play this shooting game...mom's not here?"
"I want to play this," he responded never taking his eyes off of the pyramid of prizes inches away behind the glass but so far out of reach.
Practical dad knew how this was going to end...in a few minutes the money would be gone but more importantly, the rest of of my son's day would be ruined. Tears, pouting, inconsolable for a few hours. So I decided to take the direct route.
"You know Bud, you are probably not going to win. This game is very difficult and almost no one ever gets that claw to pick the toys up."
He finally took his eyes off of the game, turned looked up straight into my eyes and said. "I know Daddy. But I'm going to try my hardest."
"...", said Dad...mouth agape.
Your kids have a way of doing this sometimes. They do something or say something, that reaches into you and grabs your heart. They do listen to us. We are teaching them the right things. This was one of those moments. I wish I could have seen my face.
After a moment of silence... "Go ahead, Buddy. If you try your hardest you can keep playing." I said with a wry smile.
About 4.5 minutes later my son's bucket of quarters was empty and so too was that claw. He still had a sad look on his face but no tears, no tantrum, no afternoon on the boardwalk ruined.
"I'm proud of you, Bud. You tried your best and that's all I ask of you" But he already knew that.. he just needed to remind me.