Kids get excited about things that are very different from those of adults.

You probably remember your kid's first birthday. The members of the extended family all wanted to spoil her. They brought fun gifts. Useful and useless ones. They brought toys recommended by the best parent influencers.

They looked at your child with excitement, as she was unwrapping the gifts with you. But she didn't seem to... care? 

"No, no don't play with the wrapping paper! Look at the truck vroom vroom!" to no avail.

She preferred the wrapping paper.

A few weeks ago, I had to drive my car to the workshop for servicing. My five-year-old daughter wanted to tag along.

Ok, I thought, this won't be super fun for her as I'll have to wait a couple of hours to get the car back, but it will be an opportunity to spend some time together, just the two of us.

We dropped the car, and went on to run a couple of errands. We also had lunch at IKEA (don't ask me why, but Swedish kids love eating there.)

But after a few hours, the car still wasn't ready. 

"Let's take the bus home!" my daughter said.

What a terrible idea. It would take an hour and two busses to get there, and I would most certainly get a call to come and pick up the car as soon as we'd arrive home. Terrible.

"Ok, let's do it," said I reluctantly. I know how much my daughter enjoys riding the bus. We never do it, so every time feels special.

Seeing how happy she was, it was all worth it—best $4 I've ever spent.

What's something a bit counter-intuitive you could do to delight your child this week?

P.S.: When we finally got home, it was, as anticipated, time to pick up the car. I was planning on taking a taxi but ... Sophie asked if we could ride the bus back there. No regrets!