Lil' Stinker

As many households, we are trying to be budget conscieous these days. This includes matters with our children.

Emma quickly learned at the start of the school year that the school had a cafateria where you could buy lunch. Of course this was new and exciting for her and she wanted to buy everyday. Well old mom here even put Daddy on a lunch budget and he has been brown baggin' it lately. We did agree to let Emma buy lunch one day a week. She tends to choose Friday when it is Pizza Day.

So earlier this week it was really cold and windy. I was running late, so I had Paul drop Emma off at school. Usually we park across the street from the school and walk her to the front door, where she walks right across the hall to the library where the Kindergartners gather. On this morning it was so cold, I told Paul that there was actually a curb drop off by the Cafateria, where he didn't have to get out of the car. He gave a look that basically said "Its December and your just now telling me this! Thanks for making me late for work several times in the past month."

So I explain to Emma how Daddy is going to drop off at a different place, and make sure she knows how to get from the Cafateria down to the Library.

That night back at home, I am getting her ready for bed and she starts giggling and proceeds to tell me that when Daddy dropped her off that morning she decided to stop in the cafateria and have breakfast! Mind you, she had breakfast before she left the house. "Excuse me, you did what?" I am trying not to laugh.
"I had Breakfast Mommy."
"Emma, honey, that cost money."
"No it doesn't. Mommy. It was free."
" No, honey. Nothing in life is free. The Cafeteria lady swiped your card and we paid for it."
"But it was good Mommy."
"Emma, you had breakfast before you left the house."
"But Mommy, they had toast and juice, yogurt, milk and cereal." (Umm..dah! we have all that stuff in the pantry at home! Plus, you can be lactose intolerant and you had two dairy products.)

Then I felt bad because she realized she did something that she wasn't suppose to do and started to cry. Then we had to have a discussion about how mistakes sometimes happen.

So before Paul dropped her off this morning I had to reminder that she was not to stop in the cafeteria for breakfast, she was to go straight to the library. The mind of a five year old.