The gift of shopping

I am always trying to take my girls to different places, different states. We are always on the go. Our latest adventures took us to Gatlinburg TN. There, we were able to visit the different Ripley's museums. Our favorite was the Ripley's Aquarium. Doesn't matter how many times you have visited an aquarium, it is ALWAYS fun to go watch fish or animals. In this particular Aquarium, the gift shop is on the way to the exit, literally, you have to walk through the gift shop to exit the building. Now for me and my girls, we looove souvenirs, they get a souvenirs from every place we go whether its at a gift shop or not. To my amazement, doing the souvenir thing is not that common. When we entered the gift shop, my girls knew right away they were going to get something. They didn't even have to ask. We all went our separate ways looking at all the neat gadgets and gizmos. I simply told them to look for something for about five dollars. Now, as my girls shopped and gazed for their trinkets, another mom came in the shop with her kids, "Oooh Mommy can I get a..." the little one started before she was stopped in her tracks with a sharp, "No, we aren't getting anything from in here, just go to the door" this mom was not alone in her distaste for the souvenir shop, another parent walked in with her kids, tugging them by the hands and arms, mumbling, "they did this on purpose, putting this right by the exit!" Ok, ok, I get it..it was kinda expensive to get into this place, but seems so harsh to me that the poor little tykes didn't even get to look. I may have given my kids a $5 limit, but they didn't even want anything that was worth that, I left the shop spending less than $10. These gift shops have magnets, pencils, erasers, plastic cups, all sorts of trinkets well under five dollars. In fact the pencil was probably less than a one dollar. I mean surely the parent got a souvenir, I am pretty sure there were photo opportunities those moms took advantage of , that's nice..unless your a kid.
 Most of the time, in my family; my kids have their own money to spend. They save change they find, money from birthdays, or earn it by doing extra chores; and that way when the opportunity arises to visit a gift shop, we are ready. In Closing, let them shop! half the fun of going to these places is getting a souvenir; one that they can proudly take to show an tell. Bragging rights, you know?