It's good to have goals!

I talk a lot to PrincessGirl. She has a lot of questions about certain things. I try to be as honest with her as is age appropriate. She is very interested in the price of things lately. For instance, the other day, she asked me how much my car cost. "Did it cost $1, Mommy?" Nope, more than one. Not sure she would really understand values much beyond those she could count (100 is her highest), I told her my car cost 30 dollars. Thinking that in her perspective, 30 would be a lot. She then asked me why I wasted so much money on our crashed up car. If you don't know what I'm talking about, read this.

PrincessGirl loves little prizes. (Go with me, I'm going to tie all this together soon.) When we go to Target, she gets to pick a little prize out of that $1 section. I was beginning to suspect that she was spoiled or a little ungrateful because she had grown to expect a prize anytime we went somewhere. So the other day when she asked for a little prize, I asked her if she had any money. She looked at like me like I was crazy and said no. I reminded her she had a bank full of money at home. I went on to tell PrincessGirl that if she wanted that toy, I'd buy it for her, but she would have to pay me out of her bank when we got home. I was just going to have her give me 3 quarters. I figured that was fair because it was like trading for a Sonic Dr. Pepper during HappyHour.

Again, PrincessGirl looked at me like I was crazy. (Maybe that is what we ought to work on instead of gratefulness.)

She proceeded to tell me that the money in her bank at home is for her to buy a Slugbug when she is a grown up girl. She may have $37 in that bank. Working with the information she has, (Mommy's car costs 30), it looks like she'll have enough to drive her Slugbug through Sonic, pick up a drink and get a little prize or two at Target. It is good to have goals.