To fully appreciate this follow up, go here first to read about This n' That.
Computer camp ended up being all that we imagined and more. The people at the Mac store really went above and beyond my expectations. The staff was knowledgeable, enthusiastic and entertaining to say the least. They even offered a free seminar to the grown-ups on "parental controls." My girls wore big grins for the duration of the morning. At one point my daughter breezed by me and whispered, "I LOVE computer camp. Thanks for signing me up." The angels sang... and I got a gold star.
They were given these cute t-shirts and name badges with cool pins:
Remember the savings goals that my girls have been working on? My days of paying my children to do silly things like rub my shoulders are coming to a quick end. Camera girl reached her goal last week so we promptly did a little comparison shopping and purchased her first digital camera. We were so proud of her working hard to accomplish her goal. She wore the batteries out within the first 48 hours. But it sure provided good entertainment for my mom's birthday when she played a video of herself proclaiming her love for her grandma. 2345 times.
On Wednesday, the girls were asked to bring a digital camera to camp since they were going to do some video editing (how cool is that??) Needless to say, our new photo fiend was thrilled. The joy was short lived because 10 minutes into the morning she came to me in tears with a broken camera in her hands. It had been dropped during a transfer. On concrete. 6 days after purchase.
Hard life lessons.
I promised to take it straight to the camera repair store after camp. Upon which they informed me it would cost $50 more than what we paid for the camera for them to even open it up. Sigh.
Can you say PARENTAL DILEMMA?
Mercy won out on this one. Since she had worked so hard and it truly was not her fault, we decided to purchase another camera for her with the 2 year protection plan.
Thursday was a much better day for the NEM family.
I arrived ready to plop my 6 year old in front of the kid sized computers to play games for an hour and a half while I attended the parent seminar a few steps away. Suspiciously, there weren't any other parents hanging around. I meekly asked if they were doing a seminar and they said "no, but if you want to learn something we can teach you. In fact, we have the guru here today. He's just arrived from the Mac flagship store in San Francisco." Um... well let me think about it...
So I had a one-to-one computer lesson for almost two hours.
I was the very happy girl with a great big lightbulb on the top of her head, who decided the $100 she forked out for a new camera was worth every penny.
Have you ever faced a parental dilemma? What did you do?
5 comments:
I would have totally bought the camera, too.
Ab.So.Lute.Ly.
I give you 2345 gold stars, Mama.
i would have done the same thing. in fact, i think i haad to learn about the protection plan the hard way, too. and now? if it is hand-held anything? i buy the protection plan. my daughter is on her 4th nintendo ds. for real. and ipods? i paid for the 2 gig a million years ago, and with broken ipods, price decreases and the beautiful pp, they now have ipod touches!
anyway... so glad she is enjoying her camera! and the gratitude they expressed about computer camp? yay mom!!
We're facing a similar situation - T broke his brand new FLIP camera less than twenty four hours after we gave it to him.
Argh.
I'm still sitting on what to do about it.
Parenting dilemmas are...well, dilemmas! Each one requires you to consider the child, the situation, your own finances, the lesson that can be learned either way you decide. I don't like them. ;o)
Oh don't you just hate it when things like that happen, and they DO happen! We would have done the same thing, even if it meant putting the camera on the credit card.
You're a good mom!
Post a Comment