dianabrunson.com

An Independent and Weighty Situation

My daughter has been getting a taste of being responsible for herself. For the past couple of months, she’s been making quite a bit more money each month babysitting than I have with my work. Add to that there are a lot of the foods that I like, which she doesn’t like. Mostly the healthy foods. And if she’s not hungry for something, she’ll refuse to eat it. I thought it was time since she might be on her own soon anyway.

Like beans, for instance. And tuna. If I made a list I’d probably fill this entire page with just what she doesn’t like. And a lot of what she does like, isn’t cheap. So now she’s seeing why I won’t buy it. I’ve noticed her choosing something else that she does like that doesn’t cost as much as something else she likes that cost more. It’s a learning experience and she s definitely learning.

I’m so used to watching the cashier scanning the food (they’re really quick at Aldi Foods), making sure nothing doesn’t get scanned twice, since the barcode scanner can be kind of tricky sometimes. Or the cashier messed up (but always corrects her mistake) Now I’m curious to know if she’ll start doing that too.

Another thing I do, when I remember, is check the receipt before I leave because there have been times when the price wasn’t changed where the food is displayed, but it has been changed in their data base. That’s when I am expecting to get a sale price. I’ve walked home only to walk right back to the store to get the difference. If it were the other way around, I wouldn’t go back right away, but I would tell them the next time I went to the store. If it’s wrong by a few pennies I don’t worry about it either way, though. I did a few times before and it wasn’t a big deal for them either.

Although I don’t tell my daughter what to buy (it is her money, after all,), she does notice the difference in what she buys and what I buy. I’ve noticed she’s slowly starting to make better choices. She still buys junk food, which I partially blame on people calling her names about her weight.

Instead of noticing that she’s gained weight and muscle (she works out almost daily), they still call her skinny and tell her she needs to eat more. Yeah, let her throw up all over them, too for eating too much. Believe me, her body lets her know when it’s time to stop eating. Thankfully she sees that they are comparing her to themselves, so it doesn’t bother her as much as it used to.

I think I’d go off on them if I heard them talking like that to her. Especially since they are all over weight. Seriously. I’m not making fun of their weight. I certainly have no room to do that. I wouldn’t even if I were thin. I just think they all have a lot of nerve talking about my daughter the way they do when they each have their own issues with weight.

Well, she is growing up, though. I think she is learning something through this. How to spend her money more wisely, for sure. I just hope she’ll start saving some of it, too. She’ll be 18 on October 7. And who knows what will come next on her journey after that?