It took 15 seconds.

Fifteen.

Seconds.

For a 2-year-old named Cooper to go from “standing near a claw machine” to fully inside the claw machine, living his best life like a tiny, giggling prize no one could win.

Toddlers are chaos in human form

If you’ve ever spent time with a 2-year-old, you know this is not surprising.

Toddlers are part explorer, part escape artists, and part “let me just see what happens if I do this.” They operate on a completely different time continuum.

You think that you will just check something for a second. They think they now have a 15-second window to fundamentally alter the trajectory of this outing. And they take that personally.

Let’s take a moment to appreciate the symbolism of the claw machine because that had me laughing.

A child inside a claw machine surrounded by prizes. And, he was completely delighted. Parents? Horrified. This is basically life.

We spend adulthood trying to win things such as success, stability or an Oprah car.  Meanwhile, Cooper has bypassed the entire system and said “What if I just go inside?”

No waiting. No coins. No failed attempts where the claw almost grabs the thing and then drops it at the last second (which, frankly, feels like a metaphor for my 20s).

Just pure, unfiltered joy.


Meanwhile, somewhere just outside that machine were two parents experiencing the fastest emotional spiral known to humankind:

1. “Where is he?”
2. “WHERE IS HE?”
3. “WHY IS HE IN THE MACHINE??”
4. “HOW IS HE SMILING??”

Because that’s the other part of this story. He wasn’t crying.
He wasn’t distressed. He was thriving.

Laughing. Smiling. Living a dream most of us didn’t even know we had until this moment.


What I love most about this?

Someday, Cooper will have this story.

There will (hopefully) be a video.

And years from now, he’ll watch it and say “Ah yes. The time I briefly became a prize.”

And if he’s anything like most of us, he’ll spin it into something bigger. It will be a grand tale of bravery. And, a story of rebellion.
As well as a formative moment where he realized systems are optional

All because kids don’t overthink.

They don’t pause to consider:

“Is this appropriate?”
“What will people think?”
“Is there a more conventional way to engage with this machine?”

They just act.

And sometimes that leads to chaos.
And sometimes that leads to a story you’ll be telling for the rest of your life.