A sense of justice

Was listening to the older daughters tell a family friend last night what they've learned about smart shopping.

"The $80 running shoes wore out as fast as the $14 running shoes," said the older one. "So we might as well keep buying the $14 pairs."

My heart swelled with pride at the knowledge that, at the tender age of 14, she already sees the sense in that.

"Yeah, but at least they bought you the $80 shoes once," said the middle one. "I never got $80 shoes."

I started to stammer out a response, something about how, having learned our lesson with the older one, there was no need to purchase another pair of $80 running shoes. My explanation was lost as she continued to lament the blatant favouritism shown toward her sister in this case.

"Yeah, but you get to have fish," the older one retorted.

Wha?

Apparently, the children really are keeping a running total in their heads about who gets what when. They seem to believe that our approach to child-rearing involves trading one item from column A for two items from column B. Ere go, the fact that one has tropical fish somehow compensates for the fact that she wears hand-me-down jeans.

My only challenge now is to figure out how much mileage I can get out of this. If the teenager gets highlights in her hair, can I balance that by buying the other one a new book?

In other news, had a lovely weekend with lots of fresh air. Hubby and friend cut up the dead tree that was laying in the backyard while I hovered anxiously, anticipating a loss of limbs (people, not tree) from the new chain saw. Then enjoyed burgers from friend's BBQ. The book goes to the printer this week, and all are excited about it.