Must've done something right!

Yesterday there was no school and after the kids did the homework they had shunned the night before we went to... The Mall. Yes, that beehive of consumerism. I suppose I do the bees an injustice since they are not flying into the hive with little credit cards to buy honey with money(a poet!) they don't have. Well, anyway, you get the picture. I hate the mall because, like tabloid news of Britney Spears, it fascinates and disgusts me at the same time. I feel that inner whinny child awaken in me to scream "I want! I want!". Yet the genes I carry from my immigrant parents are appalled at the prices so brazenly asked for such shoddy goods, and the marketing machine that assumes you believe you are getting a bargain. I think the scariest thing for me is to watch the kids in the mall. The little buyers.

Little K2, with all of 8 years of shopping experience( if you include stroller time), entered Claire's on a mission to buy something with the remains of her birthday money. She circled and circled glittering pink garden of lipgloss eden. Finally I suggested a wallet that I knew she could not resist. Pink metallic pretend-leather with huge gem stones glued on it. I just wanted to get done in the store. I did not intend the lesson that unfolded. K2 was thrilled, she dug out her dollars and we counted pennies. She had barely enough. Then I dropped the bomb. You can buy the wallet, but you will only have a few pennies of all this money left to put in it. Is it worth it? Or would you rather keep the money and find some wallet or ziplock back or altoids tin at home to keep it in? She put the wallet back and marched out of the store, a little frustrated, but unscathed.
Mom -1 Mall- 0

The best was in abercrombie, whose marketing strategy seems to be to confront you with the super-sized bare chested male model that you will neither be or see in real life (not to be confused with reality tv) and then pound your brain with some nondescript dance music until you submit to buying their tissue paper T-shirt for an arm and both legs. I often refuse to walk on that side of the mall, much less go in there, but alas, K1 had several gift cards burning a hole in her purse. K2, bless her, is as sensitive to loud noise as I am, so she walked around with her hands over her ears. Several well outfitted twiggy teens were sifting through the clothing, looking like a scene from Laguna Beach or the Hills. Occasionally you'd see a suburban mom-in-waiting trailing along while her bright faced daughter darted eagerly from rack to rack. Finally K2 and I retreated to the bench outside and let K1 browse.

K1 came out with a very large bag with that naked man on it, and a very small little shirt in it. She did not look satisfied. She complained that the prices where too high, and the people that work there weren't really nice. I asked why and she mimicked quite satisfactorily the huge pec man who complained he'd worked all day and had to go to the gym, and very tan girl who couldn't wait to get done to go home and tan. She used the words "phony", "not real" and "get a life."

I was so proud.