Money Burning a Hole

The money that Corey got for his birthday is burning a hole in his pocket. So, we went to Toys R Us to do a little shopping. He has a total of about $130, plus he got a duplicate gift at the archery party that we returned, so that added another $16, so little man was loaded! He went straight to the Star Wars lego stuff, and immediately picked out the $100 ship that he's been wanting for a long time. I had to ask him if that's what he realy wanted to spend his money on, but he insisted. So, I told him to keep that in mind, and we should look around a little more and see if there was anthing else that might interest him. I shoudl have quit while I was ahead, because on the other side of the store was......the light saber. Not just any light saber......THE light saber. A $120 light saber. He wanted it in the worst way. There was no way I could justify spending all of his money on a light saber - especially since I know what he does with light sabers and how long they usually last in our house.

Hence a discussion about value - and that he would be able to get more items by not getting the light saber, plus I told him that he really wasn't old enough to respect that type of toy and it would get broken and then he would be out a lot of money. He promised me that he would keep it safe and up on the shelf and wouldn't play with it - to which I replied that it wasn't really a toy if you couldn't play with it. Plus, if we went back and got the lego ship, he could also buy a video game and probably another toy with the left over money. That seemed to make him happy, so we got out of the Star Wars aisle.

But, even after buying the other items, he still wouldn't let it go about the $120 light saber. I finally had to play the mommy card and remind him that I had ultimate final toy say and he was not getting that light saber and if he was going to whine about it, we could take all the toys back and he could have nothing (it was getting desperate at this point). He finally relented and didn't say another word......until about 2 days later. Jerry was talking about Star Wars or something, and he looked over at me and said "but MOMMY wouldn't let me buy the light saber, would you mom???" and cocked his head to the side and pursed his lips like a little stinker. It was all I could do to keep from laughing, but I had to put on my "stern" face and remind him of all the good things he got with his money and how long it took me to put the lego ship together (an entire day, thank you very much), and I think he got a pretty good deal, etc. He laughed and said I was right - but I know he's still thinking about that ridiculous light saber. How cruel to put that kind of price tag on a kid's toy - knowing that the younger ones are going to want it, but only crazy parents are going to spend $120 for it!

I did tell Corey to ask Grandma, though - maybe she's crazy enough!!!!