News-Record.com

My 7-year-old son's school, Morehead Elementary, held a book fair this week. As part of the fair, they filled a jar with jelly beans and asked the kids to guess how many beans the jar contained. Riley guessed 500, a figure I knew was absurdly high and told him as much.

"Are you sure you want to stick with that guess?" I said, hoping he'd succumb to the power of my paternal persuasion.

"Yup, 500," he said without any hesitation.

As much as it bothered me to submit such a ridiculous guess, I didn't intervene. Besides, I thought, a great teaching moment was at hand. When my son sees I was right, I figured, he'll learn to trust me more. He'll come away from this contest knowing he can always turn to me in times of need, secure in the knowledge that the advice I dispense will be both wise and reasoned.

This just in: 506 jelly beans.

To the victor goes the spoils. In this case, Riley won a new book and something even more precious: A chance to hold his victory over the old man's head until he turns, oh, say 18.

Even now, three days, later, I am still hearing about it. Good for him.

And I learned something, too: Have a little faith.