Thankfully, I pranked my daughter until she cried

Parenting isn't an exact science... In fact it's not a science at all. It's more of an art. An art where the rules and methods change every day. Sometimes you screw up and it's bad. Other times you screw up and somehow it turns out good.

A few days ago I played a prank on Scarlett that left her in tears, but with the way things turned out neither of us would have it any other way.

I almost lost my mind.
For the last year, Scarlett has been going on and on with this ridiculous notion that putting her rock collection in the freezer will somehow make her rocks cleaner and shinier. This means that my freezer is always filled with rocks, which drives me crazy.

I've tried everything to explain to her that putting rocks in the freezer doesn't make them better in any way, but she's got her mother's stubbornness. I could just tell her she's not allowed, but the rocks aren't doing any damage, other than slowly driving me insane.... Then, recently a door opened for me to return the favor.

A few months ago we got Scarlett a cell phone so she could call us when she got to school. She immediately began using *67 to prank call me. I told her I would get her back, and then patiently waited for the right opportunity.

Then this week, the perfect opportunity presented itself, and I went... a little too far.

I did lose my mind.
While Scarlett was out with her mom, I created three fake rock collector's blogs with made up scientific research about how dangerous it is to put your rocks in the freezer.

• Rock Collector's Fancy
• Geology Today
• Jenna's Rock Collector's Guide

When she got home, I carefully walked her through the 'research' I told her I had discovered on the internet. Then I showed her a list of 4 easy steps to clean your rocks, which I fabricated on Jenna's Rock Collector's Guide. She bought it hook, line and sinker. She was so excited to get her rocks all cleaned up. And the last step in the list was simply an admission that all of it was a prank, and I had gotten her back for all her prank calls to me.

What I hadn't anticipated was how my prank would make Scarlett feel. My desire was to create an elaborate prank that would get her back, and (this won't make sense to everyone) show her how much I value her. But as you may have already figured out... she did not see how much I valued her.

When she read step 4 on Jenna's Rock Collector's Guide, she cried. She cried a lot. She said her rock collection was stupid, and she wanted to throw all her rocks away. And, as you might imagine, I felt terrible.

Fortunately, that night before bed we were able to mend things. I apologized profusely, she forgave me, and we wrapped it up with some cuddling. And I thought Thank God. I'm never doing that again. 

Good things happen to Stupid people
The next day, I thought everything had blown over. I was ready to drop the rock collecting prank and move on. But while I was helping Allison with some house work, Scarlett came up to me with a question. She asked, "Dad, how did you find all those websites that talked about putting rocks in the freezer?"

I explained that I made up the websites and everything on them. She looked inquisitively at me and asked, "How?" So I told her that making websites is easy, and showed her how I made the fake blogs. She tilted her head and asked, "Dad, can you make a blog about anything you want?" I smiled and assured her that a blog can be about absolutely anything.

After that I had the absolute privilege of helping Scarlett begin her own blog. This evening she wrote her first post, stopping regularly to read it to me and ask if I liked it.

Because Scarlett is just wired to want to help people, her blog about giving people useful tips and advice and it's called

Talents and Teaching

Were there better ways to spark Scarlett to imagine what her own blog might look like? Almost definitely. But none of those better ways happened.

The truth is, I've been blogging and talking about all the wonderful things that have resulted from my blog for the last 2 years. But it wasn't until I used the internet to trick her that she looked at blogging in a new way.

Breaking my kids' hearts is certainly never my goal, but because I'm human it happens from time to time, and I'm always thankful when good things come out of my stupidity.

What about you? Have your mistakes ever resulted in greatness. Or did your parents do something stupid that had great impact on your life? Please leave a comment in the section below.

Warmly,
Tim