Except she knows how to ride a bicycle with training wheels.
But she doesn't come with Tom Cruise's credit card.
Last month, we attended a family wedding with the girls. (I plan to post pictures soon.) Allie must have been admiring all of the heels because she asked, "Mommy, when can I wear high heels?"
"When you're 18."
"Awwww, man."
"Who do you think you are? Suri Cruise?"
"Who is Suri Cruise?"
"She's Tom Cruise's daughter and she's been known to wear little kid.... never mind."
[When the girls were younger, I remember parents of older children telling us that it only gets harder. And they were right. Parenting is never easy and as your kids grow, so do the problems. Rich and I have tried to stay on top of the "I want. I want." business. For example, we can go shopping with the girls and leave the store without having to buy them anything. They may ask to look at the toys but there are never any temper tantrums or tears. Occasionally, they may ask for something and we'll talk through it. I want them to understand money and wants versus needs and yeah, sometimes we do buy them clothes or toys that they don't need because life is too short. Balance is everything. (I haven't been able to get into the allowance thing. Maybe because I never had one.)]
The girls still have a lot of clothes from last year that fit just fine. We did allow them to pick out a few new outfits for school but they didn't need a whole new wardrobe. I didn't buy them any shoes for the new school year because they have plenty that they haven't outgrown yet.
This is what Allie said to me a few weeks ago: "Mommy, can we go to more stores and buy more clothes. I need to wear a different outfit everyday."
"Who do you think you are? Suri Cruise?"
"Who is Suri Cruise?"
"Allie, you don't need to wear a different outfit everyday. You have more than enough. More than you need. If you want to wear something different, ask sissies if you can borrow some of their clothes."
"Awwww, man."
I sometimes find their mini-fashionista ways to be quite adorable. These girls love clothes and creating outfits. But, man, sometimes it's downright scary!
6 comments:
I can just see my daughter doing this to me in a couple of years. She's only 23 months, and though she likes to wear both Mommy and Daddy's shoes when she can get her hands on them, her favorite ones to walk around in are my heels (to my great dismay, not least because she tends to trip and fall in them). She's also very into clothes already. I have to be careful about leaving clean laundry within her reach, because not only will she make a mess of it, she will try to put things on that she finds (no matter whose clothing it is), and often will not allow me to take off what whatever she manages to put on.
I never got an allowance either! I'm not crazy about the concept of it, either. Check out surisburnbook.tumblr.com for a laugh when you have a second. Someone pretends to be Suri and comments on celebrity kids' fashion missteps. It's a riot, even if it is so very morally wrong.
We never got an allowance either, despite the fact that my dad was somewhat of a public figure and had more money than any of my friends' parents combined. All of my friends got an allowance for chores, and I can still remember my dad incredulously saying, "I'm not paying you to pick up after yourself. You should be doing that anyway, and helping out around the house is your obligation as a member of this family." I hated it at the time, but now that I'm getting ready to start a family of my own, I'm going to take the same approach!
My brother and I never got an allowance either. It was probably the best thing for my brother and I.
I never got an allowance but when I got older (in high school) my parents gave me a lump sum of money a month that was supposed to cover things like shampoo, etc. They got the idea from a friend's family. The idea was to teach me budgeting. I hated it, but I will probably do it or something similar with my kids when I have them.
Allowances for chores turn many kids into little mercenaries, but an allowance to learn about saving, the value of money, and budgeting in a hands-on fashion can hardly start too early. Some young adults take to those skills naturally without needing guidance from a parent, but not most.
The girls are plenty old enough to learn to sew. Get them involved and you'll have a team on hand to help you with your creations. In a few years, they can be making their own.
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