Wait and See.

Be Patient.

Those are difficult lessons for small children. But perhaps there is no better way to teach them than with chocolate.

When I was growing up, dessert wasn’t an every meal occasion by any means. But once in a while Mom would surprise us. It may even have been a bit of a bargaining chip, as in, “Behave yourselves; I’m making dessert.”

I well remember her admonitions to us as we waited eagerly for the dessert course. She recalls us asking what she was making, and replying, “Wait and see.”

Tantalizing us. Teaching us, even, that good things come to those who wait. Building anticipation.

There wasn’t really a name for the desserts she concocted. They may have come from rummaging through her cabinets to see what would stretch a meal enough to feed four hungry kids. We dubbed the dessert “Wait and See.”

Then, as she tells it, “The next time, I couldn’t use those words or you’d expect the same dessert. So I said, “Be patient.”

That dessert, of course, became known as “Be Patient.”

These are the things of which family legends are born

Those two desserts became our tradition, our comfort, our memories. Flawed, of course, since none of us as adults can remember which dessert was Be Patient and which one was Wait and See. One was simply ice cream with hot chocolate pudding poured over it—a delicious melting mess that was pure delight to a child. The other was what we now call Chocolate Brownie Pudding, complete with a recipe so you, too, can teach your children the merits of being patient. Or of waiting to see what delights you may concoct.

Either way, it’s chocolate.

Lesson learned.