ohbloodyhell8

Remember when you were in elementary school and the latest fad was the MOST important thing in the world?  Do you remember when you weren’t able to get the fad?  When your folks said no.  They told you how it was a fad and it would pass and they weren’t spending their hard-earned money on a trendy fad?  I remember.  While my parents didn’t always say no, it’s easier to recall the feeling of being denied the item than what the item I desperately needed was.  I do remember the trends I got…Rubik’s cube (never did master that), scratch & sniff stickers (why?), Rock ’em Sock ’em Robots (still cool to this day).  I remember I wanted more mood rings, Madlibs, and Atari games.

At the time, I wished I could spend even more time at the mall.  In hindsight, thank you, Mom, for limiting that.  If I only had listened to her about not spending all of my money there too.  Parents have to set limits and restrict the number of trendy fads children get obsessed with. It helps them build character, resist total conformity, and maintain an individual perspective.

Still…my sons really wanted more Pokemon cards.  First, I find it difficult to believe that Pokemon is still as popular as it was in the ’90s.  I totally missed the boat on being into them.  But wow-are my sons into them.  They have each been walking around with their dozen or so cards, learning the lingo, and drooling over the kids who have hundreds of cards.  I don’t want them to conform to everything in society, but learning trading, math, and the rules of Pokemon do help with social norming (or at least that’s what I’m telling myself).  The different characters are sort of cool.  My sons saved up their coins toward more cards.  The oldest had enough money for another ten pack and even gave the extra two dollars (I want my two dollars…) to his younger brother for his Pokemon fund.  This was a generous action on the part of the eight-year-old.  He was actually almost half way to another pack for himself with those two dollars (I want my two dollars…).

So we went to Toys-R-Us this evening.  They carefully deliberated over the different packs they could choose from.  Each made a selection.  I pointed out they could pool their money and buy a multi-set with an extra pack and foil card.  They quickly did the math and said they didn’t have enough money together to buy it.  I offered to make up the difference.  The types of packs they had chosen were in the mulit-set.  They agreed to pool their money and split the third pack, with the younger son getting the foil card since he had fewer cards to begin with.

I grabbed an extra ten pack as a surprise bonus.  The very patient lady helped count out their coins.  I think she enjoyed the old-school, going to Woolworth’s feel of the purchase.  In the car, they split the extra bonus pack, with no quarrels.  They were complimentary to each other about their choices.  They were little men.  It was adorable.

After dinner they carefully sorted their cards and compared how many health points each had.

I will monitor the trends and fads.  I will help them choose wisely.  They won’t always hear no…they won’t always hear yes.  But hopefully the warmth they feel when we do say yes will linger throughout the years.