Strange Lesson

I took my 9-year old daughter to the toy store. She had saved 10 dollars to buy something for herself. I told her to put the money in a safe place (not her coat pocket) so she would not lose it. I ended up putting the 10-dollar bill in my own pocket for safe-keeping - had I been smarter I would have put it in my wallet.

As we were browsing in the toy store I watched a mother and a young daughter (about 5 or 6) having a conversation about geography. I was impressed how precocious the little girl was, and how well the mother talked to her about the world and explained where "Croatia" was.

A little later the same mother and daughter were walking by me again. This time the girl was very excited about what she had just found on the floor: a 10-dollar bill! I thought how cute! The mother said how lucky the girl was.

I just then realized I had put my own daughter's money in my pocket; was it still there? I checked and the money was gone. Just keys were left. The 10-dollar bill in the girl's hand was folded just like the one I had stuck in my pocket earlier. But I realized I could not say anything to the girl or her mother - would they believe me if I told them that the money was mine?
I just hoped that the smart mother would teach her daughter a valuable lesson about honesty: "Some other child has probably dropped their money on the floor of the toy store, let's take it to the cashier and see if someone claims it". No such luck. The mother explained to the girl how she could spend the money on a new toy...

I felt really stupid for losing my daughter's money the way I had warned her about it! I paid her back; she scolded me - for a good reason. But I was more upset about the lesson learned by that other girl.