I am the first to say that TV is bad. However, I love it and so, unfortunately, does Sophia. I also LOVE my DVR. Seriously, out of everything that was invented or made popular while we were in Germany, the DVR was the absolute best. I mean, I can fast forward through commercials, I can pause it when asked a question. Man, I love it. It also allows me to record shows for Sophia so that most of the time she only gets exposed to things that I approve of. Somehow she still knows who Sponge Bob is and still likes him, but I have no idea how. Weird.
One of the shows that I let Sophia watch is Max and Ruby. Like all kid shows thse two bunnies take some getting used to. Really, where are the parents of these kids and can I really expect Sophia at age 7 to fully take over watching Amelia? I can hope.
Well, Ruby is teaching Sophia about money: How to spend it AND how to earn it. A couple of months back Sophia wanted a toy. She wants a toy every day so that was nothing new. But when I gave her the party line of "Maybe for your birthday" or "Tell your grandparents" she said, "I can have a rummage sale." Huh? Yes, Ruby had a rummage sale to make money and now, Sophia wanted to, too.
I fought this idea for quite a while. I had two fears: 1. She would sell everything and 2. That she would want to have a rummage sale every time she saw anything that she wanted. But I finally gave in and found out that I should not have worried about the first thing. As for the second, I tried to make it VERY clear that rummage sales are sort of like birthdays: they only come around once a year. Only time will tell if that sunk in, but, oh my, was it worth it!
Sophia and I started getting ready for the rummage sale on Monday. It took her DAYS to get enough toys to have a sale. I had to help at the end, but even my suggestions didn't help much. I didn't realize that Anna Lisa would like the stuffed dog and that Eli really likes to play with that McDonald Happy Meal robot. But even after we found all the toys, there was so much more to do. We had to sort them, price them, and draw signs for the toys AND the sale. Here is the finished product.
We invited the kids from the mommies group and since only girls seemed interested, I made them all little princess shopping bags for the occasion.
Yesterday was the big day. I held my breath hoping that she would make enough money to buy that Cinderella doll that she wanted so badly ($3 at Target, so we thought) as well as not yell or cry during the sale. (I was afraid, of course, that she would be upset that the girls were really going to take her toys home, but also that she would tell them how much money they had to spend. She had mentioned this throughout the prep time. She was going to make everyone pay $3 since that was how much the princess was.)
No worries necessary. It went off beautifully. The shoppers were so ready to spend and be happy with their new toys. Sophia was so proud behind the cash register just beaming at me as the quarters kept multiplying. It was great. Not all, in fact not many, big projects that I do for/with Sophia actually end up as planned, so it was just such a relief and joy to see this one happen!
Then came the counting of the money and the buying of the toy. She had to wait until after our playdate to count the money. (You might as well teach them young that it is impolite to count other people's money in front of them). The final count was $6.91 and I gave her another $0.09 to get an even $7. She had to wait until this morning to buy the toy. Oh, but she did so without whining (oh my goodness, miracles happen!!!).
After breakfast this morning it was off to Target we went and she had eyes only for that one doll that was in the cash register line. I had to make her go back to the toy section just to make absolutely sure that she didn't want a different princess. She didn't. It was one of the quickest shopping trips EVER. And now, we're home...
and she and Cinderella are happy.
Just a note: Notice the dress that she picked out to wear today. Oh my, she is determined to make today a good one!
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