Grandpa's Magic Chair

Kids don't like changes.  They like routines and what's familiar to them.  If something does change you have to spend a lot of time explaining Why it's not the same and how different is better than before.

I got a dose of the this yesterday while visiting with my grandparents.  They both have reclining chairs and my grandpa Finally relented and agreed his old chair was no longer usable (really, it was there a few years ago but he finally agreed to let my grandma buy a new one).  So my grandma went out and bought a new chair, but instead of buying him one she bought a chair she liked and passed along her old one to my grandpa.

Well, Lynden does not like it and does not get it.  He knows there is a new chair and that grandma's chair is in grandpa's spot, thus making the new chair grandpa's.  Trying to explain other wise does not make sense since grandma's chair is still here.

To make things worse, grandpa's chair was a Magic Chair.  Lynden could make it rock by itself by saying "go please" and make it stop with "stop please" (the please is a key word in making the chair go and stop).  So, Lynden climbs up into the new chair (because grandma's chair is STILL here) and says "go please" (because grandpa's chair is magic and rocks on its own) but it doesn't work.  I tell Lynden that only grandpa's chair is magic and to try grandpa's chair.  He climbs up into grandpa's chair and says "go please" and the chair starts to rock by itself.  The smile that spreads across his face when he realizes the chair does what he says is wonderful. 

He then spent part of the evening trying to find what makes the chair magic (it currently has to do with a hole in the back of the chair although every time he looks behind the chair while it's rocking).

I'm hoping he now understands that grandma's old chair is grandpa's new chair.  Either way he knows it's a Magic Chair.

Check out the video of Grandpa's Magic Chair