It grows on trees, right?

I understand that money does NOT buy happiness, things do NOT compensate for love and material items do NOT define us. I have no misconceptions about this. I am also clear in the belief that I want my children to learn these lessons early in life and fully in heart.

That said, Bill and I enjoy being able to provide our children with books, games and toys that help to fill their lives with fun and learning. We are thankful that (when we choose) we are able to purchase items our children desire – within reason, of course.

Parker, however, made it clear the other day that he has not yet learned these monetary truisms. Parker went with me to the mailbox, grabbed a few of the random catalogs out of the box and headed inside. Little did I know that among his pile of uninteresting MicroCenter fliers and Papa Johns coupons there hid the new Fisher Price Toys Catalog.

He spotted the toy extravaganza immediately upon walking through the front door and instantly dropped to the dining room floor to study it. He had hit the kiddie lotto!

“Mommy, look this!” (turn the page)
“Mommy, look this!” (turn the page)
“Mommy, look this!” (and so on…)

He rushed through that thing with such gusto that you would have thought it was the JC Penny Christmas Catalog of the 1970s! Forward, Backward, Forward again. The pages flew like a flip-o-rama, until in an instant, everything went still.

He had stumbled upon the holy grail … item #NO457, aka the A.T. Rex with Monster Traction. Whoa… Life would never be the same. And in that instant, “Mommy, look this” became “Mommy, buy this!” With the change in wording and tone, I looked more closely at the treasured find and read:


“Transforms from cool ATV to awesome A.T. REX with light-up eyes, ferocious mouth that you can open and close, and a fearsome T-Rex “ROAAARRR!” Equipped with Power Wheels Monster Traction drive system to claw through rough backyard terrain. Ruts, grass, gravel, mud and more, it won’t get stuck where the others do!”

Well, for $316 I would also hope that it mows the lawn that it traverses! Hoping to quickly move him onto something else, I simply said, “Yes, that is nice, but it costs $300. That’s a lot of money, and mommy doesn’t have $300.”

Parker just looked at me and said “OK.” He continued to stare at the picture, but didn’t say another word. Really? Was it that easy?

Not so fast…


“Mommy?”

“Yes, Parker?”

“DADDY BUY THIS!!”


And with Christmas right around the corner, we apparently have some more work to do.