Consumerism doesn't get to get the best of me today, a little creativity goes a long way.
We, like most parents despise the word can't and lately Monk has been using it alot. The "I can't because..." is really getting annoying. Over the last oh 6-8 months Monk has grown a fascination with knights. By mistake he watched the movie Shrek and well, since Shrek is a knight and saves the princess, you can see how Monk would want to do the same.
Yesterday, we went to a play date with Monk's best friend Edge and he loves playing knights. This morning Monk came down stairs and wailed those dreadful "I can't words" this time being followed by "be a knight, because I don't have a shield!". No knight gear in our house...or so Monk thinks. I had actually picked him up a set of armor and shields at a consignment sale a few months back to give him as a Christmas present. I couldn't just go running to the garage and get it out. What lesson would that teach my son? When we think we can't or we don't have just go buy one? That mentality is what I definitely don't want my children to express. Ever. We have strived with our children to let very few branded characters in our house, so that we can get through shopping without having the screaming child yelling about how they want the "Little Red Devil...a.k.a. Elmo" and not being able to leave or being so utterly embarrassed that we would have to buy it just to shut him up. Most parents will never admit the fact that they have had to do this, but we haven't and never plan on it either.
Since cardboard boxes are like gold around here at Chez Stoneford out came the scissors, foil, & tape. Voila in about 20 minutes, Monk had a shield! I was smart enough in the fact that when I was cutting out the one, I actually cut out two, just in case Monk wanted to play with anyone, but primarily I knew Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer would want one too. So, Monk was happy with my creation, a shield with a giant Autobot logo on it. For those of you who don't know what an Autobot logo is, it's the Transformers logo. I live in a house with all men and since Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer is a self professed 80's cartoon freak, he of course would want to pass on his Transformer obsession to his sons.
Disclosure: The day Monk crawled up into bed and wanted to watch TV with Daddy, Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer's heart totally jumped at the fact that his son wanted to watch...THE ROBOTS! Then the day came when Grandma & Mommy came home from the consignment sale, Optimus Prime Robot in hand, Daddy jumped up opened up his toy cabinet to get his old Optimus Prime, and I caught the two of them having a Transformers battle on the couch..."Look Mommy we're playing Robots, Daddy's is the Daddy Optimus Prime and mine is the little boy." Ok, my heart melted a little too. Then came the day when after Monk's 3rd birthday, we took him to the toy store, gave him 1/2 of his "Birthday Money" and he wanted to buy a new Robot, just like Daddy's toys.
So back to not running out to the store to buy knight gear...
Monk came upstairs and again uttered the words, "I can't be a knight because I don't have a sword!". Stumped and almost about to have to blow our Consumerism Challenge, I stopped looked around, and then remembered Nana had bought Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer a set of light sabers for him to play with Monk. So I bent down and told him, "You are right, you don't have a sword...You have a LIGHT SABER!" All was right with the mini-human's world. He came down stairs and since Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer is still on his Fur-cation (he is furloughed from work right now), Monk asked him to play knights. Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer looked at me and I told him to take 10 minutes and play knights. So what does Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer say to me? "I can't play knights, I don't have a shield." Boom, not as cool as Monk's but I had at least had the forethought that he might "need" one.
Consumerism avoided! I may actually get away with re-consigning the knight gear! Woo Hoo! Cool points to this Mommy today! With a little creativity, you can make a child's day without having to spend any $$$ and turn the dreadful "I can't" into "I can, I am!"
Consumerism Challenge: 0
Us:1
We, like most parents despise the word can't and lately Monk has been using it alot. The "I can't because..." is really getting annoying. Over the last oh 6-8 months Monk has grown a fascination with knights. By mistake he watched the movie Shrek and well, since Shrek is a knight and saves the princess, you can see how Monk would want to do the same.
Yesterday, we went to a play date with Monk's best friend Edge and he loves playing knights. This morning Monk came down stairs and wailed those dreadful "I can't words" this time being followed by "be a knight, because I don't have a shield!". No knight gear in our house...or so Monk thinks. I had actually picked him up a set of armor and shields at a consignment sale a few months back to give him as a Christmas present. I couldn't just go running to the garage and get it out. What lesson would that teach my son? When we think we can't or we don't have just go buy one? That mentality is what I definitely don't want my children to express. Ever. We have strived with our children to let very few branded characters in our house, so that we can get through shopping without having the screaming child yelling about how they want the "Little Red Devil...a.k.a. Elmo" and not being able to leave or being so utterly embarrassed that we would have to buy it just to shut him up. Most parents will never admit the fact that they have had to do this, but we haven't and never plan on it either.
Since cardboard boxes are like gold around here at Chez Stoneford out came the scissors, foil, & tape. Voila in about 20 minutes, Monk had a shield! I was smart enough in the fact that when I was cutting out the one, I actually cut out two, just in case Monk wanted to play with anyone, but primarily I knew Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer would want one too. So, Monk was happy with my creation, a shield with a giant Autobot logo on it. For those of you who don't know what an Autobot logo is, it's the Transformers logo. I live in a house with all men and since Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer is a self professed 80's cartoon freak, he of course would want to pass on his Transformer obsession to his sons.
Disclosure: The day Monk crawled up into bed and wanted to watch TV with Daddy, Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer's heart totally jumped at the fact that his son wanted to watch...THE ROBOTS! Then the day came when Grandma & Mommy came home from the consignment sale, Optimus Prime Robot in hand, Daddy jumped up opened up his toy cabinet to get his old Optimus Prime, and I caught the two of them having a Transformers battle on the couch..."Look Mommy we're playing Robots, Daddy's is the Daddy Optimus Prime and mine is the little boy." Ok, my heart melted a little too. Then came the day when after Monk's 3rd birthday, we took him to the toy store, gave him 1/2 of his "Birthday Money" and he wanted to buy a new Robot, just like Daddy's toys.
So back to not running out to the store to buy knight gear...
Monk came upstairs and again uttered the words, "I can't be a knight because I don't have a sword!". Stumped and almost about to have to blow our Consumerism Challenge, I stopped looked around, and then remembered Nana had bought Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer a set of light sabers for him to play with Monk. So I bent down and told him, "You are right, you don't have a sword...You have a LIGHT SABER!" All was right with the mini-human's world. He came down stairs and since Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer is still on his Fur-cation (he is furloughed from work right now), Monk asked him to play knights. Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer looked at me and I told him to take 10 minutes and play knights. So what does Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer say to me? "I can't play knights, I don't have a shield." Boom, not as cool as Monk's but I had at least had the forethought that he might "need" one.
Consumerism avoided! I may actually get away with re-consigning the knight gear! Woo Hoo! Cool points to this Mommy today! With a little creativity, you can make a child's day without having to spend any $$$ and turn the dreadful "I can't" into "I can, I am!"
Consumerism Challenge: 0
Us:1
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