allowance

Ali and I (unsurprisingly) don’t see eye-to-eye on the subject of giving Maya an allowance.

In a surprising streak of independence, however, Ali decided to ignore my very strong feelings on the subject to give Maya $5 a week anyway.

At Fig and Olive. Where we waited SO LONG for our food that we got it on the house.

I was annoyed (unsurprisingly) because:

• Maya does nothing to justify receiving an allowance. Seriously, when I was 10 I was washing the family cars and polishing the marble. At 7 am on a Saturday. Maya can’t even put her toothbrush away without written instructions.
• I don’t understand why she needs an allowance when she pretty much gets whatever she wants from either Ali, me, or another family member, as we all try to buy her love.
• I don’t like Ali’s streak of independence. I don’t like it at all.

If one more person tells me Maya needs braces….

Anyway, after about two days of NOT taking out the recycling, NOT emptying her lunch box, and NOT putting her dishes away, I found out Ali gave her a cost-of-living increase, taking her to $8 a week.

Me: I’m really mystified Maya, as to why you are now getting $8 a week for doing less than you did before you started getting an allowance?

Maya: Well Mama, you’re the one who lectured me about how girls make less than boys for doing the same job – just because they’re scared of negotiating. So I negotiated.

At Moti Mahal Deluxe…moments before I unknowingly ate something that contained milk. I’ve never known such sickness.

As you can imagine, my mind was a battlefield of thoughts:

• I’m raising a smart-ass.
• A lazy one.
• But why shouldn’t she get paid to do nothing around the house, just as her father does nothing around the house?
• At least my constant lectures aren’t going in one ear and out the other.

Actually, I’m secretly quite proud to be raising a fighter. Even if she’s a lazy one.