I’m concerned that my daughter might not be turning into the extremely generous person I’d hoped she might be.
“I want monies, Mommy! Get me some monies!” is how I started my day today. Of course, being only two and a half, my daughter really only knows that she has a little bank filled with the most magical of items: coins.
I suppose she’s just enamored with the many shiny little pieces she can now spend endless hours clinking together, moving from one jar to another, and spreading all over the floor.
Still, I worry. Whenever I hand her anything, she says, “Did you buy this for me, Mama?” Whenever she wants something, she chirps, “Buy me a banana, Mom!” Where did all this buying come from? How did the little one I hoped to raise as a socialist/pacifist already turn into a capitalist?
Honestly, I’ve tried for her whole little life to avoid the buying-buying-buying syndrome that seems to come with motherhood like sleepless nights and body odor. I don’t buy her something every time we go out, and I don’t let her have something just because she’s screaming for it. And, much as the grandparents protest, I don’t want my house filled with ginormous red and yellow plastic nonsense (why are ALL those kids’ toys red and yellow, by the way? Does Fisher Price think all parents and children are colorblind, and need toys in primary colors? Have they never heard of Restoration Hardware sage green??)
I want to teach this little one generosity, and simplicity. I am already campaigning for less toys, and wooden ones at that, for holidays and birthdays. It’s usually 50/50 whether the grandparents oblige.
But still, now that my little girl is so stuck on the cash monies, how do I counteract this? I can’t figure out where it came from, and it shows no signs of lessening despite my efforts to redirect her attention. I say, “We don’t have to buy the bananas, darling, they’re right here on the counter.”
Her response? “Buy me one! Buy me one!”
As I beat my head against the wall, I hear my little Gordon Gekko gleefully clinking her coins together and saying, “I smell money. . . “.
