I could have. Yep. I could have swept in and fixed the whole thing in one shot. But, I decided to let her experience a bit of life today.
Let me back up. We were having a great day! After the gym and Einstein’s, she wanted to go to Target. Baby came with us today because he just got a new binky. (He has been MIA in the daytime because now he’s just a “nighttime teddy.” Yikes! …another sign of her maturity). I sewed him a little binky to cover his bitten, worn nose, and now he can come with us in his car seat.
Ok, back to the story. So she wanted some new glasses (with clear lenses that look “real”). She won’t let me say they are fake. Nope, they are real, so I acknowledge this to people and I say, yes, they are really on her face. They are not imagined. This way, I’m not fibbing. Target has some for about $5, and she wanted to use her allowance. She had $4 in her spend envelope and she’d pay me $2 from next week’s allowance. Perfect.
We picked some cute heart glasses out. Well, she did. I liked a different pair, but she is buying them! She does look ADORable in them.
When we got home, she played with them for a while and then I heard crying; A lot of crying in her bedroom. Apparently she was putting them away, they dropped, and she stepped on them. She showed me:
I held her tight and had loads of compassion for her. I told her stories of glasses I had saved money for and then stepped on them; mine were more than $100, but still. It’s a lot of sadness to lose or break something you just got. It’s what we call A BIG DISAPPOINTMENT.
Do you know how badly I wanted to go back to Target and just buy her a new pair!? It would have been SO EASY to fix it and help her stop crying. But that would have been the worst thing I could have done. This teaches her such a strong lesson.
She noted how sad she was that she’d have to save all over again to buy a new pair. I agreed. She also noted how unfair it all was. I agreed. It really is, but I told Tot, this is part of life. It’s so hard, but she is learning such valuable lessons. She even told me she learned to be more careful. She said she also learned to not buy something so quickly without thinking about it first.
Well, I love this. We got home from some errands, and she decided to try to mend them.
She said, “Mommy, this will be perfect until I can save for a new pair.” Now that is what I call making the BEST of a situation and also a sure sign of maturity.
Every day I’m knocked over by her heart and her growth. Tatum, I’m so proud of you.
XO