Cups

My children have a things for cups. They want the unique one in the cupboard and often fight over who gets the strangest drinking contraption. It can be a mason jar, a stem vase, etc. It doesn't really matter. If you can drink from it, they will use it. I think it all boils down to being an individual. In a cupboard full of matching glasses, they want to be the one who stands out -- the one who gets the most attention. It's a classic childhood battle, especially in a family of 5 kids.

So, as I had a few extra neighbor kids over yesterday who also enjoyed picking out the weird cup in the cupboard, I decided that we should all go on a field trip. We went to the local second hand shop and picked out a "weird" cup. I had no idea that this would turn into an hour long activity with scrupulous combing over of each individual cup in the store. I had misunderstood the desire for each child to have something that stood out.

They must of each had 20 different cups in their hand during the course of the hour. They wanted the cup to say something about themselves. I enjoyed watching their debating process. They went from the elegant to the unique and back to the elegant again. One ended up with a glass boot with "Texas" stamped on the front. A couple had ice cream fountain glasses. There was the ever popular "shot" glass (which of course they have no idea what that is for) and the tall stemmed wine glass. They were brought home, washed and used within the hour.

It was a great time had for a combined total of $7.77. Too bad we weren't in Vegas with that number! The shot glasses would have come in handy there as well.

We walked out the door of the second hand shop, each with a glass in their hand (me too) and a slight grin on their face. They were eager to go home and show off their prize. How easy it really is to please a child. So what if my glass cupboard looks like a shelf from the second hand store? We are a family of individuals, not a cupboard full of matching goblets.