My daughter wants a PSP. Her cousin has one, one of her friends has one, and two of her other friends are discussing about asking their OFW fathers to buy them one. She asked whether we'd buy her one when we had some extra money.
I said no, because I think she has enough toys. We have a regular Playstation where she consistently beats her father at Street Fighter, a commercial quality videoke which actually came from those huge boxes in malls where you put five-peso coins to be able to sing really loud, a desktop PC (uh, ok, so it needs upgrading), and my laptop. She has her own cellphone with a postpaid line. Shall we count the Barbies and the current craze among her friends, the erasers shaped like food?
My daughter is not one to pester us about the things she wants. She knows we're not rich, so she's ok with one 'No.' Of course the question of getting the PSP is open for discussion, so after some consultation with the man of the house and various friends whose kids own one (I can't believe the number of two-year-olds who own PSPs!), I relented and brought up the subject again after a week, and told her she could have a PSP... if she saves up for it.
My daughter got excited. She designated a special wallet for the 'PSP money,' and negotiated for an amount that she would save every day, considering the fact that her allowance comes from me. She then proceeded to convince her father to add some more, to make the saving go faster. We're looking at getting it for Christmas, but at the rate of P20 per day, I think we're likely to buy it for Christmas 2012. Sigh.
I could easily have said, Ok, we'll buy it for Christmas. But she understands that we don't buy things just because we can afford them. She knows that a PSP will cost as much as an aircon unit for their bedroom, or equivalent to a dozen Barbie dolls, or her sister's milk for three months. (She doesn't know that it's equivalent to six pairs of her mother's pretty shoes.) Not because I'm trying to make her feel guilty about an expensive toy, but because she will put more value in the PSP if she saves up for it. Because I'd like to teach her that even a child has priorities, and the sweetest things in life are those that you work hard for. That applies to PSP, job promotions, and relationships.
I wouldn't want her to come to me after her college graduation and say, 'Mama, can you buy me a car?' But well... I can loan her the down payment. :-)
2 comments:
Well, can you please pay for the downpayment of my car? Anyway, your daughter is still young, and I think by the time she graduates from college, I have already paid my monthly installment with you hehehe
hehe nice! i bought a psp for my nephew 2 years ago.. he was 5 years old then.. my sister told us that my nephew was asking for a psp but they also said no and that it was not a priority and he already have nintendo wii in the house.. but the grandparents (specially my dad) and the aunt/godmother (me! :P ) can't stand the stories of my sister about my nephew being the only kid who doesn't own a psp in his group of friends and/or in school/church...also my nephew was telling his friends that he also have a psp in the house but the psp he was talking about was a drawing of a psp in a cereal cardboard box that he created... :( but it is nice to know that my nephew didn't feel bad about it he actually make fun of his friends.. he used to ask his friends if he/she wants psp, if the kid say yes, he will tap his friend's butt then he will say PSP means "palo sa pwet!" :P can't imagine the confuse faces of those australian kids who cant understand tagalog :P
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