Ah, souvenirs – the bain of my existence. I am pretty sure my kids just like to waste money and feel like they must get something EVERYWHERE they go. Standing in tiny spaces with 3 kids plus one in the stroller makes me anxious and sweaty instantly. I. WANT. OUT!

“Mama, look! Mama, look! Mama, LOOOOOOOKKKK!!!” Those words make my heart start to race. Argh!!! I don’t want to look, I don’t want to be in here, I don’t want you to get another souvenir that’ll break in 30 seconds. And they touch everything in sight  I’m constantly grabbing things and saying “put that back!!!”

Tiny aisles filled with little die-cast Eiffel Towers, or windmills from Holland, or little statues of Napoleon, or little armored vehicles. What is the purpose even? To remember the place or to spend money? Still not sure. Even if they actually like something, it gets mixed in with other TOTAL JUNK in their rooms…and they never want what I want them to get.

So, this past weekend, we visited Amsterdam. We made it clear to Wesley that he didn’t get any souvenirs this time because 1. His last souvenir was broken THE NEXT DAY 2. He lied to us and his teacher 3. He misbehaved at school. It was a tough lesson, but we followed through! #winning (for at least one thing).

Natalie and Meredith really felt like they needed wooden clogs, but at some point Natalie decided a doll was better. This is where I get sucked in. I LIKED the doll.  She is awesome and very Dutch. But will she ever play with her? Doubtful, but at least I approved. I also approved of Meredith’s clogs, rationalizing that 1. It’s something that she can wear and it’ll get use and 2. She can share with Natalie. So, I am just as guilty 👎🏻. (I mean, I love a good souvenir as much as the next guy, but I take care of them and display them.)

(BTW, Meredith wore the clogs to the museum afterwords and I think they hurt her feet but she wouldn’t say that. She claimed she just had a bad attitude because she didn’t want to be at ANOTHER museum – even after taking her to do something FOR her that ended with a new souvenir! Ugh! But she also wore them to school today).

The day before that we went to the Anne Frank house. How can I turn down a request for a poster of Anne Frank?!? (#enabler/sucker/pushover) So, I bought the girls a poster. Natalie insisted on carrying it instead of leaving it in the stroller. She made it about 4 stops and 6 hours and then left it in Starbucks, our last stop (I can’t turn down any good taste of what I call “America”). BUT, luckily for her, she realized it only a few blocks later and was able to run back and get it.

Other souvenirs haven’t fared as well. Most recently, Justin was the enabler and bought BOTH Meredith and Wesley really cool WWII-style army helmets.

 

 

First, even after multiple requests to pick it up and bring it in the house, he left it outside on the ground over night. We asked him again to pick it up, but I guess we didn’t follow through. Later he allowed the neighbor kid, to DRIVE OVER it and crack it. It was some seriously thick and heavy plastic and I’m not sure how, but it broke.

Two weeks before that, he wanted a French flag from Paris. For that, he sweet talked his aunt into buying it while she was souvenir shopping. Two stores later, I guess he set it down and left it because by the time we got to the car it was gone 🙄.

Then there is the snow globe that Natalie got at the triangle border of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. That ended up as a sparkly mess of water and broken glass all over their room and under their beds that they tried to hide.

The next one is a little off of “souvenir” topic, but Meredith really wanted a pretty dress from the Belgian linen store. I fell in love with it and it was decently priced for a dress, so I enabled. I (yep, my fault) allowed her to wear it to school for picture day knowing it would probably never be the same…and it won’t be. She got off the bus crying because she knew I was right. “Someone in her class” was pushing to get to her whiteboard and dropped a dry erase marker on it. I am a laundry whiz and amazing stain-remover and the best salvager of  clothes, but the stain didn’t budge even the tiniest bit.

Here’s a beret Natalie asked for in Paris. She hasn’t lost it but I can pretty much guarantee she’ll never wear it again.

 

And then there was Wesley’s armored helmet and sword from the Tower of London. We had that for maybe 3 days before it vanished in to thin air. We don’t even have a picture of that one.

And what hurts the most is that all of the really cool things that we think will make them enjoy their time more or help remember it more fondly, are often the items they lose or break. They never rip or tear or lose the cheap stuffed animals that plague our playroom, but they can drop toxic mustard on a cute shirt or ruin an army helmet in a flash.

Its really a double-edged sword for me (PLUS the obvious monetary component…I am a terrible money manager). I personally enjoy having the reminders of what we’ve done because, to me, it kind of gives the full experience. But is it also spoiling/enabling them? They don’t seem to take care of any of their personal items with any care and always sort of expect more. I know this is all a result of my rather push-over-ish parenting, but I’d really like to get them to a state of wonder and awe of the experience that includes respect for the experience and it’s souvenirs. I just don’t exactly know how. I have roughly 31 months to figure that out…or continue to fail miserably.

(I had Justin read this and he claims I’m the enabler of the expensive items and he’s okay with the little die-cast statues and such. Except he bought the army helmets and all the hats the kids have and the knight helmet that’s gone missing 😂😂😂).

He also bought these 👇🏻