I posted a blog recently about the value of saying “No” to kids. The gist was:
1) Your kids will be fine if they don’t get what they want all the time.
2) If you’re going to say “No” then be sure to follow through – unless you like to lead the double life of parent and white noise machine.
I just discovered another good time to say “No”– when it comes to buying them nice things. Ya know why? Because they don’t care.
Months ago, in spite of my no pet policy, my cheeky friend promised the kids a fish. She arrived at the house with a tank and all the fishy trimings. We negotiated that a fish could join us only after we moved into the new house in March.
March arrived and we moved into the new house. It is just lovely – big enough to suit our family, sitting on a quiet court and backing onto fields and ravines. The kids’ days are full of road hockey, catching tadpoles, chasing deer and trampolining. Soon summer will be here and they’ll be passing their days basking in the pool, enjoying all the water fun summer has to offer.
On moving day, the kiddos had all been shipped off to various locations. When they arrived home to their beautiful new house that evening, they screamed in unison:
“Did we get the fish??”
Daddy-o and I looked at each other, rolled our eyes and thought: we just bought a new house, and all they care about is that stupid fish!
And that is not the end of it. I had decided (OK, my bank account decided) that we would not be buying new furniture for the house. I made one little exception. With the three girls sharing a room, I thought it would be nice to ditch the garage sale beds they had been using, and replace them with three new little beds with fresh and fun bedding. They excitedly picked out the beds that were being used by the athletes in Olympic village.
So you can imagine my frustration when I go into their room at night and this is what I find:
So if you are the kind of mama who worries about your kids doing without stuff, I think you can stop. Just go buy them a fish and let them to sleep on the floor. Clearly, that is all they need.
RSS
Oh how it never fails! I remember when we bought Kelsie her “Tinkerbell” bed. So excited to get into a big girl bed and all? What does she do? Get off almost every night and sleep on the floor by her door. UGH!
Ha ha!
That’s so funny. When they hit their teens, it will be all their clothes on the floor to. So, remember that and don’t buy them expensive clothes either.
Oh, and they’ll forget about the fish too….about one month after you get it. LOL!
i had this beautiful picture in my head of sitting in a patio chair watching my child ride his bike up and down the sidewalk and instead all he wants to do is dig through tools in the garage and now our front lawn looks like a trailer park with old paint rollers and snow shovels strewn all over the grass while the $125 tricycle from Christmas remains untouched!
Julie I love reading all of your posts. On days that I feel like I am being such a bad mother, you help me realize that i am being just as “bad” as almost every other mom out there! lol
xoxo
Toni-Lynn
This is so true! We have so many “toys” that others would call “trash” but she loves them and I love her inventiveness.
Enjoy your new home and summer with the kids!
I slept on the floor by choice a lot when I was younger and again on last Saturday night.
LMAO!! I love the picture of your kids at the end!! It’s so true, isn’t it? They have such short attention spans, they’re hardly worth the investment sometimes…but still hard to resist that begging and pleading 24/7.
LOL This is so true! I worry every Christmas. Have I done right by them? Will they get the WOW! I was hoping for? Am I helping to make all their little dreams come true? Then 2 days later, they are screaming with laughter, playing with the empty boxes.
Honestly, I think we forget two important expressions that are so applicable to kids:
1) it’s the little things in life
2) the best things in life are free
Well for starters, I don’t really think of a fish as a pet. I know it is and it needs to be fed anc cared for, but it’s a fish. You can’t pick it up and cuddle it etc. I was happy to clean the gravel and tank today, even though it cost me a mouthful of fish water. This made the kids happy and they still like the fish, so this cheeky friend is okay with breaking the ‘no pets’ rule. Hmmm, I wonder if a dog would be go over….
I can totally relate – Nathaniel forgot about his fish within a month unless he’s trying to worm his way out of a time out … errr … ‘time in’ … at which point Mr. Fish is hungry and must be fed right away. And about 2.5 months ago he informed us, very clearly, numerous times, that he was “… too big for my crib. It’s uncomfortable. I need a big bed Daddy.” I went out and got a ‘big boy’ twin bed the next day. Ask me where he still sleeps.
Julie- great blog! So true and so funny.
As for your ‘big kid bedding’, come to Wish Bedding! (I hope you don’t mind the shameless plug) If you haven’t found bedding for your little ones yet, I’m sure we can help you out! Anything we can do to keep them in their beds and off the floor