My family moved to the US when I was 13 years old. Even at that age, I had never seen a store dedicated completely to promoting cavities :-). I now remember with joy, however, my trips to the neighborhood "corner store", which happened to have a penny-candy section. As kids, we fondly referred to it as the "penny-candy store".
Now that I am a mother, I often worry that our dietary lifestyle may be depriving my daughter of formulating some of these priceless childhood memories. She's never been to a candy store. As a matter of fact, if she eats one piece of candy per week, that's plenty because we don't buy or promote candy. Healthy snacks in this household !!!
One night last month, we were watching our nightly family show and a candy store was being featured. Instantly I had a brilliant idea: my daughter's never been...why not give her a rare treat?
So today, I drove approximately 3 hours one-way to take her to this featured candy store. To prevent over-stimulation when we got to our final destination, we stopped by the country store which has a penny-candy bar. She ran inside, passed the candy bar, and was immediately consumed by the wind-up toys. I told her choose one to buy (which means, she wound up every single one of that basketful of toys because, JAH know, it surely wasn't an easy choice. She giggled and cackled as the toys auditioned for her. She finally chose a zebra.
We proceeded to the register and the penny-candy bar. I told my daughter that she had $1 to buy candy. After 19 cents, she said she was done. Strange, but I didn't argue. We set out for final destination. Afterall, the foundation had been so carefully set.
In ten minutes, we arrived. This candy store had an extensive candy selection to satisfy any candy lover's dream. And all my daughter could care about was the electric train circling the track suspended from the beams above her head, and even more wind-up toys. She then chose one pez candy and she was done.
So, next time I hear the phrase "like a kid in a candy store", I'll be wondering, "who's kid?"
2 comments:
I read this enchanting story last night and decided I would wait and re-read this morning and I'm so glad I did. LOL.. You anticipated your daughter to go crazy when she saw the candy even though she has lived without it mostly all her life. The phrase, "like a kid in a candy store" only applies to those kids who see the value. She only purchased what she was use to eating. The eating foundation you and your husband created for your little one is healthy snacks so maybe try taking her to a health food store. Watch out…she may go crazy with excitement! LOL... Sending you love.
i love it. As i struggle with my preschool about what my son can and cannot eat, has and has never eaten (kix, cherrios, some other crap), I remember when someone thought it would be a good idea to give him goldfish to eat, he had a few, hated them and started to play with them instead.
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