My children receive money for birthdays from relatives, but that’s often the only money they get all year. We don’t have allowance and we don’t pay money for chores. So, when Rebekah started talking about using her own money to buy Emily a certain doll for her birthday I told her how sweet that was, but offered to buy the doll for Emily since we didn’t have a gift for her yet.
A few weeks before Emily’s birthday while at the store we went to look at the dolls. While there, Peyton decided that she wanted her own doll. I told her that she could ask for it for her birthday or Christmas (both over 6 months away) because I wasn’t buying it.
Later, when we went to buy the present, Rebekah asked if she could bring her wallet along. She wasn’t planning to buy herself anything, she was going to buy that doll for Peyton. I discussed it with her, trying to make sure she understood that once she spent her money it would be gone and she probably won’t get anymore until March. Undeterred, she excitedly had Peyton choose a doll and proudly paid for it.
I wish I could say that Peyton appreciated her sister’s sacrifice…but as we got in the car I heard her tell Rebekah, “Next time, you are going to buy me the Minnie Mouse…”
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