A Lesson in Giving as taught by my Threenager


Yesterday my parents (Gigi and Dude to Molly and Cooper), gave Molly $2 to spend at Dollar Tree (her favorite store). She couldn't WAIT to spend it and talked nonstop about how excited she was to look for My Little Pony stuff.

She started putting some things together like...

"Hey mommy... what happens if I have THREE dollars?"

"Hey mommy...what happens if I have like TWENNY dollars?"

"...Do YOU have twenny dollars?"

She catches on quickly, this one.

After she realized more money would buy her more STUFF, our trip to Dollar Tree became even more urgent.

And the incessant line of questioning quickly wore on me so I said, "If you go get in bed and rest reaaalllly good, I'll give you one more dollar to spend and then you can get THREE things at the store when you wake up tomorrow."

That did the trick. "Goodnight, mommy!"

The next morning I gave her a dollar in change because that's all I had which meant a minor freak out every time a coin slipped out of her hand in the car. "MOM! OH NO OH NO! I dropped a coin and I'm never gonna find it again."

She wanted to spend the drive talking about how much stuff she could buy and how she wanted all the stuff ever in the whole history of the world and how awesome that would be.

I tried to interject and talk about how it was really fun to get stuff but that it usually only made us happy for a short time. The things that really make us happy are people like our mommy and daddy, our friends, God...

"Do you think they have a wot of My Little Pony stuff?"

Well. I tried.

We got to Dollar Tree and she marched to the toy aisle like she owned the place. She picked out 'a wot' of stuff and was so excited to dream up all of the many things she could do with her new toys at home. We worked together to put things back until we narrowed it down to three things. She said she really wanted to get a new thing of Play-Doh for our family because the other one was dried up and she thought it would be nice for us to have a new one. And she also definitely wanted the Shimmer and Shine wash cloth that expanded when you put it in water, because, well, because why wouldn't you want that?

Then, she took my hand, dragged me to the next aisle and stopped. She looked at me, pointed in front of her and said, "Ok, now I want to get you some new flowers."

Tears. Oh my goodness. My little girl who I thought was so concerned about getting, getting, getting, brought me to that aisle like she had planned it when I tucked her into bed the night before.

I tried to teach her about the power of relationships, and she taught me about the power of giving.

Mommas, take heart. The lessons we teach our kiddos are sinking in. You might think they're zoned out, dreaming of Lego-land or Barbie's Dream House, but they listen to what we say and they mirror the things we do.

When we take time to teach our kids the important things, the reward is SO worth the frustration and the countless repetitions and endless questions. Hang in there! You are making a difference. Momming may be hard, but it's one of the best jobs in the world.



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