Santa's Store

On Monday, Gage brought home some papers about a project the 5th graders were doing. They were running a store and had invited the kindergartners to pick people to buy Christmas presents for. They sent home a list of gifts with prices. I had to fill out a form detailing how much money to let Gage spend and who to buy for. I told Gage he could buy for Landen and Tanner and he had a total of $4 to spend. There was a large list of gifts with prices ranging from $0.25 to $10. We talked about getting a ball for Tanner and a car for Landen. We discussed a few other items just in case those gifts were gone. I also went into detail about how this was a lesson in giving to others. Not in buying gifts for ourselves. Gage loves to collect little trinkets and such so I told him that he couldn't buy anything for himself because Landen and Tanner would get him a Christmas gift later. This was the time for Gage to buy a gift for them.

I felt confident that Gage would listen to my instructions and I sent a $10 bill because I didn't have anything else. I also wrote a note saying I only wanted Gage to spend $4 and to just give him back the change.

Today, Mike picked Gage up from school. Mike told me that Gage came up to Mike holding two wrapped items in his hands and frantically said, "Daddy, do you have your cell phone? I need to call mommy right away!" Gage called me and immediately said, "Mommy, we have to go to the store to get Landen a present." I asked why. Gage replied, "Because I bought a ball for Tanner and a car for Landen. Then the boy asked me if I wanted to buy myself something and I didn't have enough money. You told them I could only spend $4. So I had to return Landen's car in order to buy the Scooby Doo bank I wanted. So now we need to go to the dollar store and get something for Landen."

I about died laughing. I can just picture Gage being totally unsure of what to do at the store. I can see him holding the two gifts and then having the boy ask him if he wanted anything for himself. Gage hadn't even thought buying something for him was an option until the 5th grader mentioned it. Gage wasn't going to let this opportunity slide by. I wonder who came up with the idea of "returning" an item in order to get what Gage wanted so he could stay within his budget. So much for learning the lesson of giving to others.