I am a mother of three kids – 10, 7, and 3 years old. Being a mother is the happiest time of my life. But shopping for my kids makes me happier, even happier than shopping for myself. The result is that I usually bought more than my kids needed.

1.Buy Candies
All my kids love candies – I bet all kids love candies. Every time we do grocery shopping with me, they will ask for a pack of candy when we check out. If we shop at Whole Food, they will ask the clerk for a treat. Everyone knows candies are bad for kids, but I just can’t refuse when they asked.

2.Buy Soda
Experiments have been done by dentists: leave a tooth in different sodas for 24 hours compared to that in a cup of water. The tooth placed in the coke will decay fastest due to the acidic contents of coke, while the tooth in water had no change at all. I have told the experiment to my kids many times. But whenever we go to a restaurant, they will ask for a soda. Now I have limited them for one soda every week.

3.Buy Junk Food
Both my husband and I can not resist the junk food either. So I guess I can’t blame the kids too much. They eat junk food in the school everyday. All I can do is not buying any junk food at home, which costs me a lot more than before.

4.Buy Anything They Ask
Most of the time if they told me they want something, I will buy them as long as I can afford. I always give myself the excuse that’s because I love them so much. I should ask myself if they really need them next time.

5.Buy Because Their Friends Have One
My kids won’t tell me they want to buy something because their friends have one. Sometimes I overheard from them talking to each other. At first I was mad about it. Now I would tell my kids to be themselves. Everyone is and should be unique.

6.Buy When They Cry
My little kid uses her tears as a weapon. Whenever I refused to buy, she will cry. My friends suggested me to leave her alone for 10 minutes, she will completely forget about it. It actually works!

7.Buy In Exchange of Something
My two older kids didn’t like to go to afterschools, while I insisted they have to go. They eventually agreed, but under one condition. One want a new 3D NDS, while the other want a new bike. Should I agree? I surrendered at last.

8.Treat Kids Differently
I always buy new toys for my oldest boy. But when the younger boy wants a similar toy, I will tell him we already had one. Just get it from your brother. I didn’t realized it is no fair to the younger one until recently.

9.Buy Too Many
At the begining of each season I will buy a few new clothes for all my kids, which should be sufficient for the season. But the problem is that I shop at Gap very often. I can’t resist to buy whenever I saw something good on them.

10.Buy Without Asking
This is actually related to my Problem #9. If I had asked my kids if they needed new clothes, I wouldn’t end up buying so many!

 
I have listed so many bad habbits here. Most of them I can’t change at all. Tell me what I should do please.