Don't Care How, I Want It Now!

I used to think that only children were spoiled by indulgent parenting until I had a singleton for five years and realized it isn’t just indulgent parenting. There are some things only children can teach each other. You can’t credibly tell a child not all the toys or attention are for them when they can clearly see there is no one with whom they have to share. I didn’t realize how bad it had gotten at our house until Puppy Surprise. The basic idea of Puppy Surprise was that you purchased a mama dog and concealed inside was an unknown number of babies ranging from one (most likely) to five (very rare). It was such a cleverly marketed idea that we had a dozen people trying to find one for Keilana, who was four. After the initial frenzy, the company found a way to keep kiddie consumers interested: sell the individual puppies in tiny doghouses with their gender being the surprise. Keilana had to have one--but she only wanted a girl. After carefully scrutinizing every box, she chose the perfect one. Naturally, Keilana opened the box, discovered the puppy was a boy, threw a fit and flung the brand new puppy on the floor. I got so angry at her greedy ingratitude I furiously swore never to buy her anything ever again. The parents in Stan and Jan Berenstain’s Get The Gimmies are pretty fed up, too. But Brother and Sister eventually learn grateful behavior. And so did Keilana. Mostly.

http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/collateral.jsp?id=10559_type=Contributor_typeId=3648

http://www.amazon.com/Berenstain-Bears-Gimmies-First-Books/dp/0394805666