Injustice

I took the kids to Wal-Mart last night to get Uncle Brian an air mattress. Matthew took a quarter with him, with designs on a vending machine gumball. (Rachel won't let him buy a pack of gum, but a single gumball is allowed. And honestly, there is something magical about gumball machines.)

He put his quarter in and turned the handled 360 degrees. The machine made a grinding noise but no gumball was forthcoming. I gave him another quarter to use on the peanut M&M machine next to it. He got 6 M&Ms. He was thrilled.

Melissa doesn't get an allowance yet, so I gave her a quarter too so she wouldn't be left out. She got seven M&Ms.

Uh-oh.

Matthew complained, practically in tears, that it was not fair that Melissa got seven. I tried to explain that Melissa's good fortune did not in any way diminish his six. He had six before Melissa put her quarter in, and he had six now, so why should his happiness be diminished?

I didn't make much of an impression. I think this is another thing that five year old brains just can't put in perspective. I sure couldn't at that age either.

Postscript: he kept complaining until after he had eaten one, and Melissa had eaten three, so that he had five and she had four. Then Matthew was happy again.