Mia and her Violin

Dave and I took Mia to her violin recital on May 18, 2019, while Camille and Steve were out-of-town.  The recital was at the First Presbyterian Church in downtown SLC.   I was amazed that groups of children playing violins could sound so good.  Mia has been playing her violin for two years, and she participated in two of the dozen or so numbers. 

When the program was over, we offered to buy Mia a treat before taking her home.  “How about Steve’s Frozen Custard?” I asked. “I can’t do that,” Mia said.  “I’m not eating sugar for a year.”  She explained that Camille had promised to pay her $200 if she didn’t eat sugar for a year, other than bits served with dinner.  “That sounds hard,” I said.  “Yes, but I’ll get $200,” Mia responded.  

I thought of the famous “marshmallow” experiment, in which a marshmallow was placed in front of two-year-olds, and they were told they could have a second marshmallow if they waited 15 minutes to eat the first one.  Children who had the self-discipline to wait the 15 minutes were significantly more successful in their later lives than children who couldn’t wait. If early self-discipline is that predictive of future success, Mia should be very successful, indeed!