Biscuit-Face

“Mummy, I want to give something up for lent!” declared the Small Girl this afternoon as she and her Very Small brother played whilst I tidied up her bedroom. “Oh!” I replied. “OK darling, what would you like to give up?” 
“Ummmm... sweets!” she said.
“OK... but you know that you have to give them up for forty days?”
“Fourteen days?”
"No darling, forty days...”
“But am I not allowed to have any at all for forty days?”
“No... what would you do on a Friday afternoon when Teacher offers the class a jelly each for Being Good?”

Tears welled up in the Small Girl's eyes.
“But that's not fay-ur!” she exclaimed, wiping her eyes with a sleeve.
“Well, perhaps we ought to be more realistic about what you give up. But it's not supposed to be easy darling” I explained gently. “Do you know the story behind lent? The bible story of how Jesus went into the desert?”
“yes...” she said hesitantly
“Well, that's the whole idea behind lent; that you give up something that's difficult for you to give up and that makes you think of the hard thing Jesus did when he went into the desert for forty days and nights: it reminds you of the suffering he went through”

The Small Girl nodded thoughtfully to herself before declaring:
“I think I'll give up tidying my room!”
I sighed and turned on the vacuum.

Twenty minutes later, her bedroom pink and sparkling, I found the Small Girl playing a game with her brother in his bedroom.
"Mum? Tomorrow's pancake day!" she said excitedly
"Yes I know, it's Shrove Tuesday, which is when we use up all the nice things in the cupboard to make pancakes - because we know that after that it will be lent and we'll be giving stuff up"
"Did Jesus eat all the stuff in his cupboards before he went into the desert?" she asked
"No, that's just what we do darling" I laughed, and put my arm around her for a cuddle.

“Why don't you give up biscuits for lent?” I suggested. “You could still have cake... and I could give up biscuits too, so we'd be doing it together”
“OK!” she agreed. “And would he do it too?” she asked, pointing to her brother as he sat on his bed, swinging his legs.
“Ummm... well probably not” I conceded “you can't make someone do it really”.

“Pootle?” she asked, turning to her brother “Do you want to give up biscuits for forty days?”
He looked at her as if she were completely insane; not even bothering to reply before slipping off the edge of his bed and onto the carpet, where an assortment of colourful Power Rangers were in the throes of a Very Small Battle.