Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Budding Shopaholic


It's a typical Monday evening. Daughter and I drop off Bar Mitzvahzilla at his tutoring and then, since we're stuck in North Scottsdale for an hour, I drive over to a shopping center that has a rare treat: a Nordstrom Rack.

But first I have to convince the twelve-year-old. Somehow I've raised a non-shopper. She doesn't want to go clothes shopping, she declares. She'd rather go to Michael's and buy more craft project items that we'll never use and end up stuffing in a closet somewhere.

I drag her in there and get ready to do some power shopping, or at least power looking. By then we only have about half an hour before we have to get back to pick up Bar Mitzvahzilla so map out my shopping expedition well. I decide I can only handle a foray through the shoe department.

Well, lucky me. Daughter and I are the same shoe size suddenly. Both 7s.

Then something happens. While I'm looking, and eliminating, and eventually buying nothing at all, Daughter has a tweeny/teeny moment. She has a moment in which she suddenly bursts from being a gangly, wild, child thing into being a woman.

Basically, she commandeers the cart, careens through the shoe department and picks out about twenty pairs of shoes.

I nod my head knowingly. I knew the shoe gene - not to mention the shopaholic gene - had to be passed down somewhere. She might have been pretending all these years with her resistance to shopping but look what happened when I got her in that forest of shoe racks! Though, of course, I can't buy her twenty pairs of shoes. Turns out that right at that moment that she's turning into me I turn into my own father. I say, "What do you think - I'm made out of money?" Neither of us has ever heard me say this before. She has to eliminate all but one pair.

The next week, I tell her we should go to Old Navy for our break during tutoring. She gives me a thunderous look. She doesn't want to go. She can't stand to go. Why does she have --

She walks in, sniffs the air, and immediately starts stacking clothes in my hand. The next thing I know she's in the dressing room.

Born of a shopaholic and a cheapskate, she'll never know a moment's peace. And neither will I.

Are you a shopper or frugal? Have you ever noticed that you've passed those traits on to your children? Are you turning into your own parents?

Thanks for reading,
Linda Pressman, Author of Looking Up: A Memoir of Sisters, Survivors and Skokie

9 comments:

  1. Ah, I always wanted a daughter to shop with:) Maybe then I'd be more of a shopper myself. But, the adult me is quite frugal. My oldest is not a spender; my youngest would spend every dime and then some!

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  2. Haha! Great one! I love the part "..right at the moment she's turning into me, I turn into my own father." LOVE IT! Happy shopping! My daughter likes to shop- but then refuses to wear what she has purchased.

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  3. Oh Linda - You are a CRACK UP!! Thank you so much for your offer to help me brainstorm!
    Please email me at
    bringingprettyback@hotmail.com
    Kristin

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  4. I have a son who has clothing in his closet with the tags still attached and he wears the same shirt almost every day. Drives me nuts!

    Sometimes I wish I had a daughter just to balance things out.

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  5. Hi I’m Heather! Please email me when you get a chance! I have a question about your blog. HeatherVonsj(at)gmail(dot)com

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  6. I love your blogposts! As a mom of a 15 year old girl, I can
    relate to the "shopaholic" gene. Interestingly enough, we adopted our daughter at birth, so I'm definitely thinking
    that nature vs. nuture really applies here. She see's and she learns! The good news is that her clothing is purchased with her babysitting money, so even if she's shopping at a "SERIOUSLY EXPENSIVE" store, she must think long and hard about her purchases.

    Have a great day,

    Jodi Rosenthal

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  7. Love your blog
    Not a shopper myself although my Mom loved it. I was an only child and I remember her bringing me stacks of clothes she never looked at a price tag.
    I only shop when needed and then it has to be on sale.
    I have 3 boys 2 are just like me but I think my middle son took after my mom

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  8. I am not a shopper and if I have to it is on sale. but my Mom was she would bring stacks of clothes for me to try on never looking at a price tag.

    I have 3 boys 2 are like me but the middle son took after my Mom. Loves the clothes and name brands

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