Deprivation

It is always good to deprive your children because then they get really excited when you buy them the simplest things. For example:

“Look what I got you when I went shopping last night.” I dangled a pack of new socks in the air.

Yo-Yo, who was washing dishes, turned around to look. When he saw what I was holding his eyes got big and his whole face lit up. “Four pairs of socks! That’s just brilliant, Mama!” He sighed happily and turned back to his dishes. “I’ve been wanting them for months!”

These were not fancy socks, mind you, just your basic white ankle sock, with a little black emblem (a star!) on the elastic band.

I overheard him chattering about them later on, saying something like “I’ll have one pair to wear outside, one pair for in the morning, one for in the afternoon, one for bedtime…”

Just think how excited he would be if he knew that I also bought him a pair of Spiderman swimming trunks. And two shirts. I haven’t given them to him yet because after I saw his reaction to the socks I decided I ought to dole out the pleasure in small, manageable chunks. I wouldn’t want to put him over the edge.

Besides, I don’t want him to start expecting things. Because then he would become a jaded kid, rather than a deprived one. And deprived kids are definitely more fun to buy for, and much, much easier to please.