"I have an idea about what to do with the money in my piggy bank," Lauren announced this morning from Daddy's side of the bed.
"Oh." I replied nonchalantly. "What is it?"
"Well..." she said thoughtfully, grinning at her sister. "I think we should take some monies out of it so that we can go to McDonalds more."
"Ah." Last week, we had a conversation about how we could only go to McDonalds for one lunch per week because it is more expensive to eat there than at home. There was something adorable and yet heartbreaking that she was willing to dip into piggy so that she could enjoy some Chicken McNuggets and an apple pie. "We had McDonalds this week already, Lauren. We went there on our way to see Ross and Lars for Halloween."
"Right," she said, "but I didn't get an apple pie."
"That's because we had a choice between an apple pie or Halloween candy. Remember? We can choose 1 sweet dessert per day..." The rules had been bent for Halloween, of course.
"Oh. Well next time we go to McDonalds..."
"Next week. And Mommy will pay, ok? We don't need to take money out of piggy."
"Right. Well, we could take out 8 coins so that we can have ice cream. You know, because ice cream costs 8 coins."
I have no idea if this is correct, or even which 8 coins we're talking about. It would seem even the kiddie-sized cup at Carvel costs more than $2. So I say, "We'll see."
It's really difficult to balance making healthy food choices without labeling some food as "bad".
I guess that appealing to her sense of economy has backfired on me, though. I have to come up with another approach.
7 comments:
Your “eight coin” story reminds me of a story. You will soon see it on my blog. When I was the Operations Manager of a regional furniture store I had a salesperson some in and say, “Bud can you take a sales call?” Now since I normally assigned calls to a salesperson I was a bit confused. “Why?” I asked. “This woman is driving me crazy!” he responded. “She asked me, ‘How long is the sofa’ and I asked ‘Which sofa?’ She said, ‘The one I am looking at.’ (We had a Sunday advertising supplement in the Hartford Courant) So I ask’ Which one are you looking at’ and she said ‘This one. How long is it? Thinking she would stop I said ’88 inches’. She asked about another one. I said they are all 88 inches (A total lie.)” I said, “Got it.” Obviously, this woman was either nuts or very old. I pick up the phone. I said “Heloo, May I help you?” This woman’s voice crackled like “the wicked witch” from “The Wizard of Oz.” It was a voice I knew well. It was my best friend’s (John) mother. She is both old and nuts. I said, “Hi Mrs. Roberts. This Bud.” She didn’t act like this was a weird coincidence. She said, “Bud how long is the sofa?” I responded, “They are all 88 inches.” She responded, “Oh then it is too big. Thanks.” When I told John the story, he wasn’t the least bit surprised, “The sales guy was right. She is nuts”. 88 inches or 8 coins. It is a good answer…
Lars prefers circle money to paper money. Circle money is REAL...paper money is just, well, paper.
Came across your blog on the NaBloPoMo thingy and this post made me laugh! When MacDonalds first came to India I was always trying to come up with some reason to get that apple pie. Now that they've discontinued it here it's seem meh to me. I feel for your daughter:D
"Monies" exclusively refers to coins. She calls paper money "dollars", but doesn't distinguish among amounts even though she can read most of the numbers.
Sorry to hear about the apple pies in India, Bek. They changed the cooking method here a couple years back so that they are baked instead of fried. They're still sweet, but not the greasy, crispy goodness of my youth. As a kid, though, the Happy Meal always came with its own dessert - a character shaped cookie.
When I was five I found an enormous box (from my sister)under the Xmas tree. I was so excited, what could it be? It turned out to be a box filled with paper and a dollar bill on the bottom. I was very disappointed. What was I going to do with that? Poor Alice, she had given up a big chunk of money to no effect.
I believe the 'eight coins for ice cream' is a Dora reference. Dora and Boots are buying ice cream from a truck-based vendor and they have to count 8 coins to pay him.
mmm...apple pie.
We need to parent better. She's taking accounting advice from Boots the monkey?! Oh dear.
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