I Want to Save My Allowance For…

My older girls get a few dollars for an allowance each week.

They have never been too bad about asking me to buy them tons of toys or other things, but since implementing weekly allowance some time back, whenever they have asked I would say, “You’ll just have to save your allowance if you want to get that…”

This has worked out very well for the most part. We count their money every week. They understand the concept of saving. They no longer ask me to buy them anything.

But.

In the past month or so they have taken to saying, about a thousand times a day, “Mama, I want to save my allowance for…”

Any time they see something in which they are even slightly interested.

“Mama, I want to save my allowance for a toy turtle.”

“Mama, I want to save my allowance for a toy big Tiana.”

“Mama, I want to save my allowance for a toy crappie.”

“A wildebeest.”

“A wart hog.”

“A cape buffalo and all the other kinds of buffalo.”

 

When we’re playing the “Cat in the Hat I Can Do That” game?

Miss: “I want to save my allowance for a toy fan” (one of the game pieces).

Me: “Honey, that is a toy fan!”

Miss: “No, I want to save my allowance for a real toy fan.”

Me: Blinking. Blank stare. “Okay.”

 

They now comment about wanting to save their allowances for things much, much more frequently than they ever used to ask me to buy them things.

“Mama, I want to save my allowance for a toy fountain.”

This one came up multiple times yesterday at the splash pad.

And this morning?

“Mama, I want to save my allowance for a toy Baby Sis.”

It’s gotten a little out of hand.

I love that they think about wanting to save for things. And I love that they have actually saved for weeks and weeks for some things that they wanted very badly that were a bit more expensive. And I love that we have started a “Giving Jar” where they put $1 of their allowance each week to give to a charity of their choosing when the jar is full.

But man.

When we went to the fireworks last week both girls talked the whole time.

“Mama! I want to save my allowance for a toy firework like that one!”

“Oooo! Mama! Mama! I want to save my allowance for a toy firework like that one!”

“A blue one!” “A red one!” “A big one that twinkles and falls down like that!”

And on, and on, and on. The. whole. time.

I get a little freaked out about this sometimes and think, “Oh no!!! My children are falling victim to our overly commercialized society! They are becoming hyper materialistic! They want EVERYTHING! I have failed as a mother!!”

Then I take a deep breath and remember, they aren’t asking me for the fancy Barbie doll they just saw on a TV commercial. They don’t even watch TV commercials.

They don’t ask me for the latest and greatest toys that all the kids are getting. They don’t have the slightest idea what the latest and greatest toys are.

They don’t throw fits (usually) when we walk past, or even down, the toy aisles at Target or any other store. They just say they want to save their allowance for it if they see something they like. **

Most of the time they’re saying,

“I want to save my allowance for a toy butterfly” when they see one outside.

Or,

“I want to save my allowance for a toy chicken nugget” when I make them for dinner.

When we read books they constantly interrupt me to tell me they want to save for something (many things) in a book.

I have had to set a limit with this one.

As a general rule, I not fond of being interrupted when I’m reading stories to them, but I usually don’t mind too much when they are asking questions about a story or pointing out something interesting that is happening. I suppress my occasional urge to say something like, “Hey. I’m reading here. I’m in character and everything. Why are you talking?”

But the allowance thing is just too much. So I made a rule that they may not interrupt a story for allowance comments. They don’t follow it. I’m working on it.

Miss has been saying that she wants to save her allowance for a tiny baby doll like Sis’s.

They have these little dolls at Target for about $3, so I told Miss the next time we went to Target she could bring her allowance and get one if she wanted.

Today we went to Target to get some storage boxes for our new art shelf (oh my gosh, I love my new art shelf!). Both older girls brought their change purses. Lass said she wanted a pony. Miss said she wanted a baby doll with long brown hair.

Lass got a My Little Pony that she could decorate with stickers and markers.

Miss got…

a My Little Pony that she could decorate with stickers and markers. She just couldn’t resist it when she saw her sister getting one.

I walked her past all of the other things she had said she wanted. The baby dolls with brown hair. The tiny baby dolls like Sis’s. The big Tiana dolls.

She stuck to her guns and bought the My Little Pony. Both girls depleted their allowance stashes.

They have been saving for many weeks, saying they wanted to buy tons of things, but not actually buying anything and not really even pushing to buy anything.

I got to thinking about this.

Then this evening while I was cooking dinner and The Daddy had the girls outside, Miss came to the door repeatedly bearing various items and saying she wanted to save her allowance for something like them.

“A hydrangea.”

“A hydrangea leaf.”

“A leaf like this one too.”

Finally it clicked. They don’t really want to save their allowance money for any of these things. Or at least that’s not the main reason they’re telling me they do.

They’re just telling me how much they like these things or how interesting they are.

Duh.

So the next time Miss came to the door with, “Mama, I want to save my allowance for a purple flower like this one,” I said, “Wow, you really like that flower don’t you?”

She blinked at me and nodded and then said, “Why did you ask if I really like that flower?”

I said, “Because you said you wanted to save your allowance for it. Do you really like it?”

She smiled big and nodded with a shy, “Yes, I do.”

I guess I’ll have to revisit my rule about the allowance comments during stories.

 

** I have to add that even if my kids did beg for fancy Barbies or other toys or throw fits in the toy aisle, that would not in any way make me a failure as a mother (nor does it make anyone else one). I recall begging and begging for a Cabbage Patch doll, and Barbies, and all sorts of other stuff I imagine. All kids do it, and I’m sure mine will too when they get old enough to know what the “hot” toys are. But my thought process is what it is. Sometimes it just doesn’t take much for me to briefly freak out about having failed my kids in some way or another. Middle finger to you, “Mom Guilt.”