Need or Want?

Don't you just hate it when they use your words against you?

We worked hard in the weeks before Christmas to distinguish between something that was a true "need" and something that we merely wanted. Of course, this was for Baxter's benefit, as we felt it was important that he not go through life thinking he needed such things as a mother and baby Brachiosaurus or even a cookie.

"Mommy, do you need the book, or is just something you want?" he asked knowingly as he trailed behind me at Border's after Christmas. There I was, happily shopping for books with a generous gift card one of my clients had given me, and I suddenly felt that I had to rationalize my purchase to my 5-year old. "Uhh, well, no, I don't need it," I stammered. "I was given money to spend at this store by one of my clients, and I've been wanting this book for a while now, so I get to buy it."

"No!" he screamed, as I was trying to lure him into the injection room at the doctor's office last week. "I don't NEED a flu shot! You just WANT me to get one!" Hmm. Technically, I suppose he had a case. But as I looked between the large flailing child on the hallway floor and the impatient nurse in the room waiting to give him his shot so that she could help the other kids waiting, I pushed his case from my mind pretty quickly. I am not proud to admit this, because I know I shouldn't really care, but it is also fairly embarrassing to have a very large 5-year old suddenly lose it, tantrumming on a floor in the main hallway of the doctor's office. So I told him that actually he did need it, because it's what his doctor said he needed to do. This didn't make a whit of difference, but when I started to describe the flu, perhaps using a bit of exaggeration in describing its symptoms, he agreed to come in.

I guess he gets it.