Samantha‘s note about her Kindle seems to have hit a nerve with many of you. As commenter ae wrote, “The ‘it’s MY Kindle you know’ line would have gotten me the “Oh, did you pay for it with your own money?’ line from my parents.”
Well, Lea in Los Angeles seems to come from that same school of parenting. When she and her husband found this demand stuck to the cereal box this morning, they decided to teach their daughter, Chela, a little lesson.
related: My evil Mom
92 responses so far ↓
#1
Kim
YES!! Taking back control!!
Aug 30, 2012 at 6:33 pm rating: 72
#2
Who passed out the Haterade?
I hear that she built it.
Aug 30, 2012 at 6:48 pm rating: 50
#3
Michele
When I was growing up, my brother would quickly scarf done all of the ‘good’ cereal within a day or two leaving me with the Corn Chex. or worse the Bran Chex, so I can understand being a little possessive.
Aug 30, 2012 at 6:53 pm rating: 27
#4
Molly Musaka
Well, at least the note said “please.” A far cry from the demanding little snot we last heard from!
Aug 30, 2012 at 6:55 pm rating: 20
#5
deprogrammed
These parents should talk to Mr. and Mrs. Pushover addressed in the earlier note.
Aug 30, 2012 at 7:27 pm rating: 15
#6
dot
I’m torn on this one. I grew up as one of 5 kids, so I can totally understand the feeling of everyone getting to the good cereal before you and being left with Fiber Bran. As a 9 year old it was less than amusing. And she did say please, which counts for something.
Though technically her parents are right, I feel for her. Especially with the name Chela.
Aug 30, 2012 at 7:59 pm rating: 19
#7
havingfitz
Team Mama and Dada on this one. The primary job of any parent, be it human or animal, is to raise your offspring to be able to survive on their own. That means sometimes teaching them some hard lessons. A friend of mine used to respond to “I hate you!” with “Good! I means I’m doing something right!”
Aug 30, 2012 at 8:22 pm rating: 40
#8
Poltergeist
After coupon clipping, the cereal actually only cost $0.50. Mama and Dada made a profit.
Aug 30, 2012 at 8:42 pm rating: 24
#9
Old timer
We never had two boxes of cereal open at once. We had to finish one before we could start the new one. My siblings and I had to negotiate what kind to get in the grocery store, usually based on whose turn it was to get the toy (if there was one). Who are all these people fighting over the “good” cereal?
Aug 30, 2012 at 9:02 pm rating: 26
#10
Jami
I agree with the parents for the most part, but I want to know if the girl is an only child or has a sibling. There’s a chance this might’ve been meant for them. Some siblings are jerks and will eat things their other siblings like just to deny it to them.
Aug 30, 2012 at 11:17 pm rating: 20
#11
Smokey
On good days- Fiber One….On bad days- Resee’s Peanut Butter Puffs!
Aug 31, 2012 at 7:11 am rating: 1
#12
ddk23
danm $3.00 for cereal? Either the parents are price gouging, or they have no sense to stock up when it’s cheap.
lol, totally back team parents either way
Aug 31, 2012 at 7:18 am rating: 6
#13
Nope
I disagree with this method of parenting. What’s the point of buying anything you’re not legally required to for your child if you’re just going to taunt and mock them about it? Don’t be a dick. Let’s use an example. Say your neighbor made you a some cookies and you took them to work with you, not a whole lot, just enough for one person. Now let’s say someone else goes and eats them without even asking you or talking to you about it. Wouldn’t you be pissed off? Duh, of course you would. So don’t do it to other people then.
Aug 31, 2012 at 7:29 am rating: 17
#14
sleeps
These parents are a lot nicer than I am. I would just move the box to the highest shelf in the top cupboard. Who needs permission now, short stack?
Aug 31, 2012 at 9:50 am rating: 61
#15
Andrew
If they were just goofing around and left the note as a joke, then whatever.
If they really did steal money from their own daughter, then they’re disgusting monsters and there is absolutely no excuse. That’s going to cause trust issues that could last for yours or decades. Kids who are expected to share everything and/or think their property could be stolen are likely to hide and hoard things, be generally distrustful of others and this often leads to stealing and worse. It’s (unfortunately) common in orphanage and foster-home type situations.
Aug 31, 2012 at 10:14 am rating: 7
#16
Henry
I think her parents already taught her a lesson by naming her Chela…good God, what is this world coming to?
Aug 31, 2012 at 1:33 pm rating: 2
#17
M Rich
Doesn’t “Chela” mean student, or disciple?
Aug 31, 2012 at 4:57 pm rating: 2
#18
Dot
If the parents really charged her $3, they probably made a profit off this. Considering Chela probably put the note on the box because she noticed it was going fast, there likely isn’t a whole box of cereal left. I’d be upset if I was charged $3 for a quarter of a box of cereal.
Aug 31, 2012 at 6:22 pm rating: 8
#19
james
These parents are assholes. I hope they added the note on purpose for this site and not to actually show their kid, because punishing a presumptuous note by stealing from your kid is HORRIBLE. $3 is a LOT of money for a child! Tell the kid “no, you don’t get to decide who eats this cereal, we share food” — that would be decent parenting. Passive-aggressively stealing from your kid to punish them for a NOTE is massively shitty ‘parenting.’ These people clearly have zero conflict resolution skills and care more about control than anything else.
Aug 31, 2012 at 6:40 pm rating: 10
#20
Cat
There were times in my childhood when this would have been a very appropriate note for me to leave for my brother. My brother who would wander downstairs at one in the morning, eat the entire box of “good” cereal and leave a couple squares of shredded wheat for the rest of us.
I imagine she just wanted to get a chance at actually having a whole bowl of cereal for breakfast.
Aug 31, 2012 at 6:46 pm rating: 6
#21
Lia
Lol, I’m sure that Chela’s parents will allow her to exchange control of the cereal back for her $3.00 if she decides it’s not a worthy trade. I think this is simply an intelligent way to prove a valid point to your child– not a monstrous injustice.
Sep 1, 2012 at 3:16 am rating: 19
#22
RavenMcCoy
1. $3 for a box of cereal is not outrageous, and as a Trader Joe’s fanatic I can tell you it’s about right. And for $3 at TJ’s you are getting a box of cereal with 100% pronounceable ingredients.
2. Team Parents. They’re not “monsters,” they are gently teaching their little girl (whose handwriting, by the way, makes me think she has to be AT LEAST a 3rd grader) a lesson about money and the real world.
Cereal costs money. This is how much it costs. Unless you want to pay for it, you don’t get to claim it all for yourself.
As someone with a Chela-like brother (who is now 23 and still acting like an entitled little shit), I sympathize with the parents. He was and is a picky eater, and would monopolize things the second my mother got home from the store. Orange juice, jars of pickles, Lucky Charms, Milano cookies. He would sit down and consume the entirety of the bottle/jar/package on his own. And if he didn’t, and he saw you partaking, he would FLIP OUT about how it’s HIS and it was purchased for HIM and blah blah.
When he was younger, he would physically attack me. When he got older he would just attack the food and run off with it.
Eventually my mom literally stopped buying these things and told him if he wanted to eat 3 jars of pickles and not let anyone else have any, he could buy them himself.
Sep 1, 2012 at 4:23 pm rating: 31
#23
notolaf
My mom had a friend who would go out and buy a variety of cereals – everything from Fiber Twigs to Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs – take them home, dump them all into the same bin, and give it a good stir. She claimed it stopped the fighting, but I wouldn’t have cared to eat cereal there.
And what IS that picture…thingy…on Chela’s note?
Sep 1, 2012 at 6:05 pm rating: 2
#24
Badger
My parents always eat my leftovers. I have to label them as mine or I have no lunch for the next day. -_-
Sep 2, 2012 at 12:21 am rating: 1
#25
TurnOffTheDarnLights
Team Mama and Dada!
Absolutely love it- food isn’t free (even when you grow it yourself- seeds, water and such,) and I think this is a great lesson for her to learn.
Sep 2, 2012 at 11:22 am rating: 4
#26
TurnOffTheDarnLights
My parents would have done exactly the same thing, unless I bought it myself.
‘Well, you didn’t buy the cereal, so Dad and I went in and took $3 from your savings jar. Now you’ve bought the cereal and it’s all yours.’
Sep 2, 2012 at 11:50 am rating: 4
#27
anon
okay. I get that she may have been trying to save some of the good cereal for herself. But come on? Your child expecting that YOU should ask for permission for something YOU bought is ridiculous? I would call their response unfair if she had simply left a note asking that their be some cereal left for her to have in the morning. But thinking everyone in the house should have to ask her for permission for food she hadn’t payed for is ridiculous and their response is entirely reasonable!
Sep 2, 2012 at 11:47 pm rating: 10
#28
Vulpis
Unfortunately…anyone have odds on whether this lesson ends up being learned as ‘It’s okay for you to take my money and ‘my’ cereal? Okay, then, it must be okay for me to take your stuff and your money too, then!’
Sep 3, 2012 at 4:30 pm rating: 4
#29
Katy
I agree that this changes if the kid has siblings. I grew up with two siblings, and my brother was a real ass about eating literally everything in a box at one sitting. Box of oreos? Gone in one day. Frozen pizza? Good luck. Want toast for breakfast? Hide a few slices of bread. Does it have a name on the box in sharpie because 16-year-old me bought it with money from my summer job? Doesn’t matter, eat it anyway.
Sep 3, 2012 at 5:33 pm rating: 4
#30
eeepah
I love my brother. He’s one of my bestest friends now. But that note would have made him eat the entire box 20 years ago. He’s since been blessed with twin boys who are each manifestations of his younger self. Such a nice guy now!
Sep 6, 2012 at 3:28 pm rating: 3
#31
Nunyo Biz Ness
And this is how hoarders are made. When kids don’t have the security of ownership, when they feel the world can be taken from them at any moment by the whims of a capricious and selfish parent, once they come of age, they show the world they’ll never be denied or stolen from again. They keep things not because it’s valuable, but because they want to show the world that nobody can deprive them of their rights and goods ever again. They derive immense comfort and even pleasure knowing their house is chock FULL of things parents like these would otherwise control or throw away without considering the kid’s feelings. “Whose cereal is it NOW, assholes?! COME TAKE IT FROM ME NOW, ASSHOLES!”
If you don’t want your kid to have the damned thing to themselves, DON’T BUY IT FOR THEM or negotiate which things get to belong solely to them and which things they must share. Yes, because kids under 14 are allowed to have jobs and make tons of cash so they can buy whatever they want. *rolls eyes*
Just remember, she gets to pick their old folks home. *evil grin*
Sep 7, 2012 at 3:10 am rating: 4
#32
L
I’m 19. I do buy my own stuff. My mother (who is mildly allergic to peanuts) eats my peanut butter (that I pay for myself) and then NEVER REPLACES IT. And then we don’t have peanut butter for a month until I have spare money to buy more.
/endrant
Sep 15, 2012 at 10:24 am rating: 4
#33
daniel
Wow, lots of folks who know better on here. Whether the note is appropriate depends on contextual factors like age, siblings (if any), whether she has a history of being a bossy/entitled kid, where the piggy bank money came from and whether it was earned with chores, other approaches the parents have tried, etc.
Since we don’t know any of that, we’ll just have to take the note for what it is: funny.
Sep 17, 2012 at 10:42 am rating: 5
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