On her way to bed tonight Madison told me today was “the best day ever!”
Not quite how I would have described it this afternoon when I had to leave a bike store with only one bike for Sophia and load a hysterically crying 4 year old into the car, trying to keep my cool so the lady in the car next to me didn’t call the cops. Because by the sound of Madison’s screams you would have thought I was physically hurting her, not just telling her no, she couldn’t have the $300 bike she picked out but that I would love to buy her the purple one that was in our budget. Girl didn’t want the affordable purple one, she wanted the overpriced blue one.
Teaching your child a lesson the hard way sucks. Through tears, I texted Bob and my mom that I just couldn’t watch her standing at the back door crying while Sophia rode around on her new bike. I wanted to just go back and get her the ridiculously priced blue one she wanted and forget the stupid lesson. But I knew that wouldn’t be the “mom” thing to do. So we had some long talks about not always getting what you want and wants versus needs, and somewhere in the middle of it all something clicked, she stopped crying and smiled and said “Mommy I hope one day I can earn the purple bike like Sophia’s. Whatever bike you want me to have would be so great to me.”
My sweet little Maddie. I am pretty sure she will remember this next time. When she finally got to ride her new bike she said “It’s what I always wanted!”
Stay strong out there, my mommy friends. It’s a hard job, and days like today make it even harder. But they are listening, they are learning, and some day they will thank us for it.
