We need a Volunteer!

You know, it's weird that Nigel has become a huge volunteer, even at his young age.

Whenever we're watching a show - involving anything (e.g. at the zoo, bird park, shopping mall) and the host calls out "ok, now we need some volunteers", the first hand to go up from the audience would be Nigel's. I have no idea where he picked up that courage from, given he's actually quite shy and so are the rest of his family members.

I think it's the lure of the reward, the prize, the toy, the goodie-bag - or in the case of the bird park recently, a postcard of an eagle, that drives him forward and forces his arm to shoot up uncontrollably. Where others shun away and pretend to be checking their handphones, his is a shouting up and down with hands waving "pick me! pick me!" sort of reaction.

Actually, it works negatively sometimes. They recently attended a story-telling session at Borders and I let the kids go first and I caught up with the action later. They were giving away fun-packs for correct answers. Nigel and Shannon sat right in front - sorry, make that on the feet of the story-teller - and when I heard the reader tell Nigel several times "ok, not you again, let's give the others a chance" I knew that he already had at least one prize in his possession at that point.

Shannon's not so brave, but I see her trying these days. She's thinking, considering, fighting the jitters within - and one day, I just know it, they'll be fighting each other to be the first up the steps to the stage.