Read my new guest post over at “Don’t Mess with Mama!”
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Walking through the craft store, I see my 7-year-old spot the “impulse buy” aisle and I can anticipate the question in 5…4…3…2…1…
“Mom, can I buy something?”
“Do you have money?”
“No. But I promise to pay you back when we get home. Please, OH PLEASE?!”
“Why don’t you take a look first before you settle on something. Your limit is $1 plus tax.”
She walks up and down the aisle, digging through the bins and touching everything she might have interest in. I can just see the imaginary dollar burning a hole in her pocket. She picks up a pack of erasers and tells me, “Mom, I’m not sure that I want this yet, but I’m holding on to it to see if I can find something better.”
(Ugh, I’m going to have this conversation AGAIN.) “You know you don’t have to buy something because you have a dollar.”
“But I want to.”
“But you don’t need it. You have enough erasers at home that will last you through college! Do you realize that the pack of erasers is like recycling 22 water bottles? By not spending the dollar, you have just saved it for something possibly more important the next time you need money.”
She sets the pack of erasers back in the bin, we check out and leave the store. My daughter is grumpy on the way home because she didn’t spend her hypothetical “dollar.”
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