Monday, August 24, 2009

Buying In

It took me a long time to learn this, and I'm almost embarrassed to admit it took even longer to put it into practice.

When Kevin runs out of deodorant he'll use what ever he finds in the bathroom (mine). He'll latch on to it so it becomes his and it doesn't matter where I hide it, he'll find it. It didn't matter if I got him a new stick, mine was his. Then I got the bright idea to have him with me when I bought him more. And it worked. He helped me pick out a 4-pack at the warehouse store and my deodorant is now cootie free.

It's so much easier for me to shop without him, he tends to have his own agenda in stores, but it's so much easier to get him to buy-in to a purchase when he's there. A while back he took my phone and took 60 pictures with it. I decided he needed his own camera. I took him to Walmart to pick one out, but he wondered off to toys to browse. I got a low-end Kodak camera without his approval and he won't use it.

So now, I'm learning. Or remembering, as the case may be.

I took the kids out Friday with stops at Old Navy and to get new shoes for Fern. Kevin lounged on the hassocks while she shopped for shoes. I saw a pair of brown Chucks in his size on the sale rack and remembered to get him involved in the purchase so he'd take ownership of the new shoes. Which he did. He picked out some shirts at ON too and was wearing one before the night was through.

He likes crew-height socks, which, in my opinion are not quite as fashion-forward as anklets when worn with shorts. I've tried to get him to wear some of his dad's with no success. So yesterday I had him help me pick out some new low-cut socks. He completely accepted them.

Kevin went off to the first day of school today wearing his new shoes, by choice, and I have high hopes for the socks next time he's in short pants.



 

4 comments:

AM Kingsfield said...

Some things are the same with all teenagers, eh?

Anne said...

Using their mom's deodorant?

Mom said...

Too bad raising kids doesn't come with a better instruction book.

AM Kingsfield said...

No, I mean not liking anything their mom picked out for them.