Out of the three children that Mr. And Mrs. Patel had, the youngest Vineet had always been their favourite.  Vineet had an older brother and an older sister, Ayush and Riya. They were twins and both of them had started primary school a few months back. Vineet was still in elementary school. He had made lot of friends in school and enjoyed going there and learning new things.

 While Ayush and Riya had to get good grades in order to get gifts from their parents, Vineet didn’t have to do a thing. His parents showered him with gifts without any reason. He was the apple of their eye. Ayush and Riya did feel sad, seeing their parents give special attention to their younger brother, but they never complained about it. They accepted everything as they were presented to them.

But slowly Vineet started to think that he would get whatever he wanted. Every time he would go up to his mother or father with a request for something, they would fulfil it almost immediately. It seemed as if they were ready to get the world at Vineet’s feet. At Vineet’s growing demands, his parents started to realise their mistake and decided to teach Vineet that gifts only came through hard work.

So one day while on a trip to the mall, Vineet spotted a stylish remote controlled racing car on the window of a shop. When he asked his father if he could buy it, for the first time his father refused. He explained to Vineet that his brother and sister had aced their exams at school and that is why he had promised them gifts this time. He promised to buy the car next month if Vineet get good grades in school.

Vineet had never imagined that his father could refuse. So he became angry. He yelled, cried and stomped around and refused to budge from his place.

His parents had to literally drag him home. He refused to eat dinner or talk to his parents. For the next seven days Vineet was a ball of anger, shouting, crying and yelling at everyone. When things were getting worse, Ayush and Riya decided that they would have to talk to Vineet.

They quietly crept into their little brother’s room and found him perched on his bed, angrily colouring a photo of a car. They went and sat on the bed. Vineet ignored them. Riya softly called out “Vineet?” At this Vineet looked up at them coldly and was just about to cry out when Ayush started speaking. He explained to Vineet how much their parents loved him. He reminded him how they never said no to his requests. He wanted Vineet to understand that to get something, he needed to earn it. He would have to prove that he was worthy of the car. Vineet listened to them quietly and nodded his head occasionally.

Slowly he realised that his siblings were right. He also realised that he would have to work hard to earn his reward just like his siblings did.

On understanding his mistake he hugged his brother and sister and thanked them on making him realise his faults. Then he went downstairs and stood before his parents. He looked at them and said “I am sorry papa. I am sorry Ma. I understand that I have to work hard to get a reward. I understand that gifts don’t come for free.” He wiped his tears and continued, “I will never do this again. I promise to get a good grade in class so that you are happy and then I can earn my new remote controlled car.”

At this his parents were overjoyed. They realised that their little boy was growing up. They also appreciated the efforts of Ayush and Riya and praised them. After all, there was no other joy than earning gifts through hard work.

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