by Marisue Alsobrook

When I was teaching first grade, I learned a lesson.

One day a guest speaker from a local bank came to my classroom to teach saving money to first graders, and it all started with a candy bar. It went something like this:

"HI there, my name is John and I want to give you something."

"Yeaaaaaa!" the kids exclaimed.

John held up his gift, a candy bar. The kids were all eager and ready to receive. He passed out one candy bar to all the kids and told them to wait before they ate it. He said "How many of you want to eat your candy bar now?" All raised their hands.

Then, John said "If you want to eat your 1 candy bar now you can, but if you wait to eat it after I get through talking to you, you can have 2 candy bars.

How many of you are willing to wait and not eat your candy bar now, and get another candy bar?" Out of 21 students, 14 wanted to eat their candy now...and 7 were willing to wait to eat, and get their 2nd candy bar later.

All of the kids who were willing to wait for their 2nd candy bar received a ticket. John said, "Those of you who have no ticket can go ahead and eat your candy." They looked at those waiting; they looked at their candy bar and began to unwrap it and eat. They were making yummy noises and were grinning ear to ear.

John walked around the room as he talked about the bank and how they could have a savings account for 1 penny. His talk lasted about 15 minutes.

No one seemed to be listening. As he talked, you could hear the kids with one candy bar chewing and smacking. The smacking was enticing. Those who had one candy bar and a ticket squirmed. They watched all the other kids eatiing their candy bars. They were nearly drooling with anticipation. But, they waited in silence, and you could tell they felt a little left out. Still, they waited.

One child turned back his ticket, and opened his one candy bar and began to eat. The 6 kids with the tickets and one candy bar squirmed more. Still, they waited.

Finally,. John said, "OK, I hope to see you all at the bank Saturday with your pennies and those of you with a ticket, please hold up your hand."

The smiling 6 faces held up their hands. He made a big production of giving them their 2nd candy bar. Those who had eaten their candy already looked shocked as they looked at the other classmates who now had 2 candy bars and they had none.

The 6 first graders who had 2 candy bars had the biggest grins on their faces. Amazingly, none of them wanted to eat their candy bars, and decided to take them home and show them to their Mom and Dads. The 15 kids who had eaten their candy bars showed mixed emotions. They had lived by their choice but their instant gratification was gone. They started talking about it not being fair, they wished they hadn't eaten their candy and had waited so they would have had 2. Some were pretty sad.

It took a few minutes for the class to settle down. John sat on the edge of a desk and said something like "Boys and girls, what did you learn today? Is it better to eat your one candy bar now, or wait and get 2 candy bars later? Eat now? or Wait? Which?"

All of the 21 kids said "Wait!"

John said "You have learned a very important lesson that many grown ups do not know. You can see that once you eat your candy bar, it is gone and it doesn't even feel very good anymore. You saw your friends now have 2 candy bars, and you have none.

When you put your dollars into your savings account, they can grow into more. You can have the one dollar now, and spend it and then it's gone. Or you can put it in the bank and let it double to 2 dollars and then decide if you want to spend it or wait even longer and let it grow more!"

"What do you want, one or two?"

The kids all shouted "Two, Two!"

After he left, I talked with more of the kids that were still kind of sad about only having one candy bar and fully expected to get some phone calls from some parents that night.

John was prepared and had the lesson he taught on paper as hand outs for the students to take home. Still, a few parents didn't necessarily like the lesson, but no one got too upset.

The kids talked about that lesson during the rest of the school year. I followed it up every week with another opportunity for them to wait to receive a larger reward, or receive a small one now. (Such as free books, bookmarkers...etc) Sometimes the kids would impishly grin and say "If I wait will I get two?" Sometimes I said "No!" It was funny how quick they were.

After a few weeks, parents began to report that their kids were more patient, seeing value in waiting for the bigger reward. They understood saving their allowance, or saving for a special toy. "If i wait, I'll get more." became their advice even to their parents....they became teachers.

Can you wait for two?