So I have an 8yo daughter who is always tempted by whatever cute little things she sees in the stores. The other day we were at Joann’s, and they always have racks of cutesy things for $1. She saw a sort of lilypad flower thingy labeled “Bath Confetti,” which was clearly made of soap in thin layers. She begged to be able to spend one of her own dollars on this little item, and though I thought it was dumb, I shrugged and let her spend her own money.
Best value for a dollar ever.
Last night she gave the lilypad to her 5yo sister to play with in the bath. It turns out that she had thought it was a pretty bath toy, not soap. So 5yo puts it in the water, and then lifts it up on her hand, where it promptly melts onto her hand like a green gooey skin with a flower on it. 5yo starts freaking out, 8yo freaks out that her pretty toy is melting and she didn’t even get to use it herself, and I scrape the goop off with a paper towel.
8yo is totally disillusioned–“I paid a dollar for SOAP?!?” she is yelling, crying about the utter unfairness of labeling soap ‘bath confetti,’ and swearing she will never buy anything from a dollar rack again. She even tried to ask if she could have her dollar back–first I affected to think that she wanted to go back to the store and ask for a refund, and then just said “So you want me to pay for the soap flower that I didn’t want you to buy?”
Yep, kid, there is a lot of cheap junk out there that will not fulfill your dreams. Be glad you only spent a dollar on that lesson.