New Shoes

Child A gets all the new clothes. Child A gets all the hand-me-downs from cousins (including one 3 years younger than her). Child A has been getting hand-me-downs from friends. The clothes, the shoes, what's a girl to do... it's a dream come true. She loves it and some of it is stuff mommy wouldn't even consider buying her. What does a child of not-yet-9 need pumps for anyway?

All those cute shoes that her older sister gets and B has to WAIT until A grows out of them (and some of them A hasn't even grown into yet!) Child B has wide feet. Many of those shoes will never even fit her feet comfortably. But she still waits (and wears them anyway when A isn't looking!)

Oh, the turmoil of being in the middle...

So, with A having narrow feet and B having wide feet... And A having several pair of dress shoes and B, well, with only her sister's to wear... Today was the day to go shoe shopping for B.

The plan:
1. After church, B and I would use a gift certificate at our local Stride Rite store. Why Stride Rite? Because they will measure her feet, including width. They have a broad selection, including wide shoes. We have a gift certificate! Just the 2 of us.
2. She will be measured.
3. She will try on dress shoes.
4. She gets to pick which shoes she wants.
5. We will purchase them with the gift certificate.

How did it go?
Easy.

They had 2 pair of dress shoes that fit her and she chose the fancier pair. Of course. She IS a girl!

Bonus: They were on sale. I didn't even have to tell her that! (OK, I would have chosen the more expensive pair because they were more appropriate for a girl her age. BUT, it's OK. She gets to pick so few things and they are pretty much only for church.)

So, on the way home, I mentioned that A would LOVE a pair of shoes like that. A will probably be quite upset when she sees them. (A has been wanting a pair of "high heels" for over a year!) However, A gets a lot of things that B doesn't get or that B has to wait for longer. It's OK for B to have these shoes, but if your sister is very upset, well, what will you do? How will you handle that?

After a brief pause, B says from the back of the van, "Well, I won't be heart-broken about it or anything."

Hmmm. I guess I need to work a little on empathy...