Smart Cookie

Yesterday Langley and I took Ian, my nephew, to lunch and Build A Bear for his 5th birthday gift. On the way to the mall, I told them that we would eat at the food court and they could pick whatever they wanted. We haven't eaten at McDonald's in over 6 months so I thought Langley would head directly to it. After looking around she said, "I want Blimpie's. Every time I eat McDonald's I feel sick afterwards and it's really not healthy for you."

After eating, we headed to Build A Bear so Ian could make his Clone Trooper Monkey. We started allowance with Langley about a year ago. She gets 5 bucks a week, one to give, two to spend, and two to save. We've been talking lately about not spending a small amount just because you want to buy something (instant gratification) and instead finding something that you want to save for. However, Langley had $10 that was really burning a hole in her pocket while Ian shopped. I've been working on trying to not influence her purchase decisions, since it is "her" money. After looking around the entire store for about 15 minutes, she walked over to Ian and I and said, exasperated, "Mom, everything in this entire store is way over my budget!"

Parenting is hard much of the time but it's nice to know that SOME of what we are modeling for our kids is being generalized!