This afternoon, we stopped at a clothing store where we had ordered some uniform dresses for her school a week earlier. A call had come that they were in. Upon arrival, we were met by a full parking lot. The store was packed. Long line. Since it was just pick-up, I figured there was some way to avoid the line. I immediately scoured the store for a free employee, and when I found one said, “I have some three dresses to pick up. How can you help make that happen quickly.” He got the dresses and three minutes later, we were walking out the store, never having set foot in line. Before exiting, though, I stooped down and said something like…
Me – “See that line?”
Her – “Yeah.”
Me – “We could have been stuck in that for thirty or forty minutes, but, instead, we’re leaving here in a few minutes, right?”
Her – “Yeah.”
Me – “I did it by thinking differently. I got clear in my mind that not only did I want the items but I wanted to get them as fast as possible. So I found an employee to help us. You saw that, right?”
Her – “Yeah.”
Me – “Okay, good. You have to think creatively and think for yourself. You can’t just follow the crowd.”
Once outside, I asked her if she understood what I had said about thinking differently, and she said yes.
Sometimes I see her, especially after school is in full swing, getting into a ‘follow the rules’ mentality. It’s important to me that she’s honest and respectful but that she learns to think outside the box, which includes ignoring the expected procedures, at times.
