My daughter is so lovely. She has some personality quirks though that are different. She is a rule minder and an “informer” as Bill Cosby would say. She remembers everything (she’s better then my google calender). But she also wants to redo her room every few weeks or get the latest new item. Her latest obsession is that she needs a new comforter set for her bedroom. We are not rich people and stuff like that gets moved to her Christmas list. So, when she came to me saying it was time she needed a new set, I said, “Uh, no you don’t.” She has 2 different sets.
You see I’ve been looking for a new comforter set for 5 years and haven’t found one I want bad enough to pay those exorbitant prices for. I actually have an old white chenille bedspread from the 70’s that was my grandma’s and I love it on my bed. I proceeded to discuss with her the value in older things. We traipsed up the stairs and into the dresser that has all our older quilts. She wasn’t impressed. I informed her about all my older family who made each quilt and the love that was put into them. That we have something to cherish and love them and remember them by as no one who made the quilts is alive any more. Again, not impressed. So back down the stairs to my bedroom closet to find my quilts. I had one that I loved as a child and it stayed on my bed forever. It’s a butterfly quilt that a great aunt made.
Her response, “It’ll do.” Sigh. Where is the value in what is old? Does this mean I’m going to be like old technology as I age? Will I become a dinosaur to my kids? If I don’t teach them the value in the old or used items who will. I think it’s my job to find their clothes at yard sales and to repurpose old furniture instead of buying new. I love that stuff. I can only hope that the fact that they are raised in a house where this is the norm will allow them to find the value in it as they get older.
I am a lot like you – in the ways that older items have a special kind of value and things get added to Christmas lists.
I think that is a beautiful blanket!! I hope she grows to love it.
Thanks Jenn. She buried it under a yucky wolf blanket. Sigh. LOL
I’m not sure how old your daughter is, but I’m thinking this is just a phase. My daughter is 3 (almost 4) and every time we go to the store she wants everything she sees. Not just toys, but practical things too. Like the other day she thought perhaps we needed a new pitcher for our drinks because we didn’t really have a good one. She was actually right, we did need that, but I didn’t get it because I wanted her to understand that we don’t get everything we see/want every time we go to the store, and sometimes we get what we came for and that is it. I discussed with her the idea that we may want a lot of things, but sometimes they are better just left on the shelf because they won’t look as nice or work well in our home. She was okay with this, and we left w/out any huge fits or meltdowns, lol.