Chick fil A Writing Contest

You know I like to get my kids involved in lots of different things. We enter contests as often as they are interesting and fun. They have won probably more than their fair share of Reflections and local coloring contests, but mostly that is because they participate and try. (It would probably be prideful to say that it is because my kids are just wonderfully talented, wouldn't it? ;)

So a couple of weeks ago when the elementary-aged kids were off-track, we ran across the rules for our local Chick fil A writing contest. Sport, Scout, and Curly were all eligible to participate and they were excited to enter because just for turning something in they got a yummy chocolate chip cookie!

As usual, they spent tons of time on their stories. I helped the little ones type theirs and then we split them into pages so they could illustrate them too. It was definitely a fun project and when they were finished, they were very proud, but most especially Sport. His turned out to be 38 pages! It was much too big to staple, so we put it in sheet protectors in a small binder. It looked like a published story by the time we were finished, and in my humble opinion, it was good enough to be one.

I was not surprised to take the call that made him one of the finalists. Of the 4 finalists, one would win free kid's meals for a year and second place would win a birthday party. The other two would be able to attend and share their stories and a free meal with a guest.

He was all sorts of excited!

When we arrived at Chick fil A, we were the first ones there. He was given a little finalist badge and they sent us to the counter to order our free meals. After we were finished eating, they had the kids start reading their stories. Sport was the second one to read and he did an excellent job! They had three age categories so we sat through 12 stories total.

When the winners were announced, he was not chosen and I have to admit that we were both pretty disappointed. But he did get some cool prizes anyway. Besides our free meals and a chance to hang out with the Chick fil A cows for an hour, he received a really nice hat, a small stuffed cow, and a chapstick. He also got free coupons for a shake and chicken minis.

Not to mention all the fun he had being creative. Remember my post last week about Reflections? The one where I reminded everyone that part of the reason I encourage participation is so the kids can learn to lose and still be happy?

My sweetie suggested that I need to remember my own lessons...