J arrived home from work this evening with a couple of Hot Wheels cars he'd spied on the grassy verge while walking from work. The Lily Bug's eyes lit, until she realised this meant another child had lost his toys. At first she was reassured that she could be the caretaker of the cars, but as much as she loved them, it wasn't long before she told her dad that he'd have to go and take them back. She wanted him to do it there and then "as long as it's not too far away daddy", but he promised to do so on his way to work in the morning. Except for the yellow one. She couldn't part with that.
I never expected something so conscientious to come out of a three and a half year old. She realised straightaway of her own accord that another child had lost his toys, and she didn't feel right keeping them because of this. Even though, chances are that some other random kid will end up with them anyway, but she doesn't realise this. She just feels the right thing to do is put them back where they came from and hopefully the Universe will see fit to reunite them to their original owners - or someone who doesn't already have two boxes full of Hot Wheels as our kids do anyway. :)
