Family financial field trip

Friday afternoon, I took the kids to the mall to exchange an outfit. (I love my mother-in-law and she's very generous, but overalls for a potty-trainer? No.) It's rare for me to voluntarily take both kids to the Temple of Consumerism, because:

"No, we're not getting snacks/smoothies/gum/candy today."

"No, you don't need any pajamas/a Halloween costume/shoes/socks/that cowboy hat today."

"No, we are not going to Build-a-Bear/Ridemakerz/Club Libby Lu [over my dead body on that last one] today."

Okay, I actually gave in on the cowboy hat because I really didn't think I could put it back on the shelf after my son wore it for more than 15 minutes. I also gave in on the bounce-up-and-down-on-a-heavy-metal-replica-of-a-vehicle-for-50-cents rides. The good news is that the "virtual roller coaster" was a whole dollar and couldn't have been more lame. That gave me a chance to work in a little teachable moment about how some things are definitely not worth the cash.

My kids are very lucky. They have many generous relatives and that includes their daddy. I am always yelling at him to save gifts for birthdays and Christmas, rather than buying them and bestowing them the second he finds them. Especially when we are out shopping and they want to buy something, if we buy it right away, we miss out on the opportunity to teach them to save for something they really want. At 3 and 6, the kids are pretty young for this lesson, but I still want to get started on teaching it. My daughter has a savings bank that she likes to stuff, but she's yet to have to really break into her stash to buy anything she's coveting. That needs to change (ha. I said "change").

But I really hope the one thing that she's coveting is not a visit to Club Libby Lu. That place scares me.

This post brought to you by my need to win an iPhone from Parent Bloggers Network.