As my dad would say (about me, really) my little girl wakes up with the gimmies and goes to bed with the i-wants. And her pushover parents have been indulging this attitude for a while. We noticed the extent that our sweet little princess has become a super DIVA on her birthday a couple of weeks ago. Everything went fine at her birthday parties (one for friends and one for family), she was kind to her guests, appreciative of her gifts, and all around well-behaved. But because my husband works away from home, we had both of those parties two weeks before her actual birthday. My husband and I discussed gifts for her and said we weren't going to get her anything on her actual birthday, because we did so much for her parties, and she got so many presents. Well, of course mommy couldn't stick to the plan. I worked on her birthday so I had my sitter bring Hailey to meet me for lunch. My mom and sister both decided to join us. Hailey was horrible that day. When she saw my family walk in with gift bags, she demanded her presents. When they were clothes, she gave them zero attention. She demanded her piece of cake from the waitress and wouldn't eat her lunch. After work, I took her to my aunts for supper and it was a similar display, a cranky, whiny kid who wanted everything and wouldn't take no for an answer.
I've created a monster.
Since then, Hailey has gotten no new toys or gifts from me. I bought a shining star stuffy for her cousin the other day, and she begged for it. I told her if she got some money from somewhere, she could buy one for herself. She seemed to feel good about this, and had no issue handing the toy over to her little cousin when we went to visit.
Yesterday morning she got a belated birthday card in the mail from a great-grandmother, and there was some money in it. She asked right away if I could take the money and buy the shining star stuffy that she wanted. I did, and she hasn't put the toy down since. It seems the old adage that if you "work" for it you'll appreciate it more works even for 4 year olds!
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