Recently we were grocery shopping. I usually do this alone, as with children in tow it tends to take longer and cost more, but the little guy had been sick, so I had pity on him and shlepped him with.
These nice store planners seem to enjoy making parents’ lives difficult and place brightly packaged toys at kids eye level throughout the store. Sure enough little guy (all of 5 years old) pipes up “ima could i have a toy please?”. now every parent knows if you say yes the first time, you’re toast forever. So I said no. He continued to ask. Finally I said “sweetie, you have plenty of toys at home, and you don’t play with them all every day, you don’t need a new toy”. Kid thinks for a second.
”Ima, you know how you tell us that you can never have enough shoes or enough clothes? well, the same is true for me and toys” – he got the darn toy.
5 responses so far ↓
David // March 17, 2008 at 6:12 pm |
Don’t you just love being outsmarted by a 5 year old? It’s kinda humbling, isn’t it? I sometimes feel like a cartoon villain saying quietly to myself, “Curses, foiled again!” It is hard to navigate the sea of logic when we swim in a world of euphemisms and metaphors. Kids don’t seem to drown in language as much as float with their heads above the water to see everything.
OK, enough of the maritime references. Thanks for stopping by my blog. Your post is so much related to mine regarding the V word!
phyllis // March 17, 2008 at 10:09 pm |
my husband always asks why we taught them to talk…i realize it’s not the talking that’s the problem, it’s teaching them to reason!!! amazing when they repeat our own wisdom back, isn’t it?
hadassahsabo // March 18, 2008 at 6:30 am |
david – every time they open their mouths i know I am going to be outsmarted. I guess we should look at it as having done our job of parenting and teaching very well.
phyllis – so thats the problem – i taught them to reason and to think for themselves. (hits head in absolute shock!!!)
They are amazing little people.
Peace, Out
Pearl // March 18, 2008 at 7:21 am |
Hi Hadassah
Your son is brilliant (pu, pu, pu).
There are some alternatives to saying no, saying no again, eventually caving in and buying.
1. instead of buying some highly priced retail item, tell your son that when you’re done there, you’ll go to the dollar store (do they have those where you are?) and he can pick out one or two things. (that won’t break the bank)
2. My kids, thank G-d, for the most part accepted “Not today” or “We’ll see…”
The older they are (mine are 8, 10 and 12), you can also teach them the value of a dollar. Say you’ll pay a percentage of an item that they really want and with their allowance/birthday money/Chanukah gelt, they can pay the difference. It might make them re-think the purchase or might truly just make them understand that they bought it and it’s good for their self-esteem.
I think you should get your son on a wait list for law school…
hadassahsabo // March 18, 2008 at 11:18 pm |
thanks for the advice!
Happy Purim!!