Christmas conversations with a 5yr old!

This is the first year that the LO will be buying gifts for Mom and Dad at Christmas, chosen 100% by her. I took her shopping over the weekend, with a budget, and she will go with her Dad sometime between now and Christmas to shop for me.

It amazes me how good she is with numbers and basic math, so I started teaching her about money as well… and the value on things too. Its funny how she really wants a 10$ piece of junk until I tell her she needs to spend HER money that she is saving on it!

So, with a budget of 30$, she made some interesting choices for a total of $26.44. On the way back to the car she asked me how much she had left, because her math is limited to single digits right now, and I rounded up to $4. She asks me what happens since she didn’t spend the whole $30. I explained to her that nothing happens, she stayed under budget and that was good. She thought for a minute and said “so, since I didn’t spend it, I have 4$ now?”. Um, no! I told her you just spent MY money, so you saved ME money, it doesn’t just go into your pocket! She pouted, but she accepted my answer and we carried on with our usual errands, going home to wrap everything and put them under the tree later in the afternoon.

This morning, on the way to daycare, she asked me when I was going shopping for her presents. I asked her why it mattered, and she said because right now Daddy is the only one with presents under the tree. I laughed and told her I would start shopping soon (everything is already bought and wrapped, just well hidden away) and that I would start putting things under the tree for her but she had to wait until Christmas morning to open them. Clearly it wouldn’t be that simple with her, as she proceeded to ask what would happen if she didn’t wait until Christmas to open everything.

Me: “Well, if you open everything now, you won’t have anything to open on Christmas morning”

Her: short pause... “Yes I will! I’ll have all the presents from Santa to open!”

Me: Shit! “No, because if you open all of the presents from Mommy and Daddy, Mommy will lock Santa out so he can’t bring you any more!”

Her: another pause, longer this time... “ That’s OK, Daddy said we have a chimney, so Santa doesn’t need to come in the door, silly Mommy” followed by a detailed explanation of how he gets up and down, involving elves, magnets, pulleys and winches. Yes, in those words!

Check, and mate! 

Don't get me wrong, I am beyond proud of her! I love that she's a smart kid, has pretty good logic and problem solving skills, has a brain for math, etc... I love that she loves numbers (she clearly doesn't get that from me) and that she is keen to learn how to read and write (this is me). But give Mamma a break, kiddo! Especially at 8am!

Here's another example, she has been super into puzzles these last weeks but she does the 60 piece puzzles faster than it takes me to drink a cup of tea. So, on the weekend, I let her choose a 100 piece puzzle of a less familiar subject to hopefully challenge her a little.  Nope. While I was baking in the kitchen she did the puzzle, with a little help from Dad, in less than 15 minutes. That's it!!! I have since gone out and bought a much more difficult 250 piece puzzle with a puzzle role and THAT one is finally a bit of a challenge for her. Pretty soon I'll give her my 500 and 1500 piece puzzles to do that are collecting dust!