A Lesson for Both of Us

Do you remember POGS? A really hot, yet useless item (in my opinion), played with and traded by kids in the early nineties. The other day, I was reminded of that fad when my six year-old showed me a couple of cute, tiny erasers. One is shaped like a butterfly, and the other is shaped like a cat with angel wings. I asked her where she got them. She told me that one of her friends in her kindergarten class had given them to her.

"Huh. That's nice, honey." I said. I really didn't think too much about it, until she asked me if I would take her to get some more of those little erasers at the store.

I told her, "Let me find the key to your princess bank, and then you can take some of your money out to buy some of those at the dollar store." I thought surely there would be some sort of miniature erasers at the dollar store. (I could swear I'd seen some there before.) And if we couldn't find any miniature erasers, there will be something else that she would be just as happy with.

She was pleased, and went on about her business.

The next morning, it had slipped right out of my mind, until she asked, "when are we going to go get some more of those erasers?"

This would be a good opportunity to teach her about money, I thought.

I'll have her count her dollar bills, and take an allotted amount with us to the store. Maybe she will begin to appreciate just what goes into saving and spending money, and why I don't always say yes every time she asks me to buy her something random at the store. Maybe she will value money a little more if she has to spend her own money that's she's been saving for so long.

So, we opened up her princess bank, and I instructed her to count out ten one-dollar bills, and then put them into her own wallet that Santa had brought to her (just for this purpose). She counted the bills and put the money in her wallet. Soon, we got into the car and headed over to the dollar store. She was very excited. (I wish I could get that excited over something so simple as those tiny erasers.)



When we got to the dollar store, we went up and down the aisles. She was on a mission, and would not stop to look at anything else. I on the other hand was continuously distracted by all of the Easter goodies on display, making a mental note to come back sometime soon without her. I would stop to look at something, and she would turn around and say "Come on, mom. We have to find those erasers."

Well, we canvased the whole store and did not see anything close to those erasers, and she was visibly discouraged. I tried to show her some others trinkets to buy with her money. I was hoping to follow through with her lesson on shopping. She would have nothing else. Those erasers were the only thing she wanted.

I asked her if her friend at school told her where she found them, and she said "Circle Domino."

"Huh?" I said. "Domino's Pizza ? That is a PIZZA place. Are you sure that's what she said?"

She repeated, "No. Circle Domino, mom. We have to find it!"

"I don't know what that is. As far as I know, there is no such place. You need to ask her again when you go to school tomorrow." I said.

So, we went home. She was very disappointed. Almost moping.

Then I got the idea to check Walmart and Target. Surely there had to be something there that would suffice.

I chose to stop at Target first, because I don't have to fight the crowds there, and I like the clean aisles. As soon as we walked in, I told her that we needed to check the dollar bins, because I wanted her to find an inexpensive backup choice (as an alternative to those darned erasers). As I am cruising the aisle slowly, inspecting and showing her each item of interest, she is nagging me, "Mom. Let's go. Come on, let's go. Mom... mom!"

I was just about to walk away, and then it dawned on me that I needed to check one more row. As luck would have it, she spots them - right in that very last row.

And this is what the fuss is all about:




(Cute, aren't they?)

She was ecstatic. You'd have thought that it was Christmas morning! She picked up four packages of them, and told me that she'd planned to give them away to her friends at school. We walked over to the check-out, she handed the cashier five dollar bills from her wallet, put her change away, and took the receipt. All by herself.

As we drove away from the store, she spots the Target logo on the side of the building. She said, "That's it! Circle Dot. Not domino, but DOT."

By George, she's right. It really is that simple. I've had exposure to Target's brand marketing much longer than she has. (Try almost three decades.) Why couldn't I have figured that out?

I guess we both learned a lesson that day. She learned how to use her money, and I learned that I had better start thinking outside the box. And start thinking inside the circle.