We came home this weekend from a trip abroad. Dd is a great traveler. She's a very even-keeled kid, 8 years old, with great common sense and an intellect to match it. She's never thrown a temper tantrum in her life, doesn't get upset a lot, and has always been easy to reason with.
On our trip, a goal was to bring back a $#!+ load of Kinder Surprise eggs. We used to live in Germany and this is a fond memory for her. I planned ahead and had the farmer I buy my eggs from give me 2 empty egg cartons to bring them back safely.
To make a long story short, I screwed up royally. I had a sandwich in my bag from the Italy - Germany leg and being the honest person that I am, told the customs guys that I had "produce". They took the sandwich and said, "No big deal, you can keep it." (It was cheese and lettuce... I thought the lettuce would be a customs no-no.) While we were there, though, they scanned all of our bags.
Kinder eggs, we come to find out, are illegal in the US. We knew you couldn't buy them, but for PERSONAL consumption?? Still illegal. They made us take every single one apart and they confiscated the great little toys inside (we got to keep the chocolate, which really is insignificant, as it isn't the draw for these... if you know them, you'll understand what I mean). Doesn't matter that my dd is 8 and the parts are unsafe for 3 and under. Still illegal.
Dd was so upset! I apologized profusely to her. (It WAS all my fault!! We would have just zipped through "nothing to declare" if I hadn't been such and airhead!) She, in her typically level headed way said, "Mommy, you can't help it. You didn't know. But I think I'm going to cry."
I told her that I felt like crying, too, but was too mad to cry. I said, "Cry all you want, honey. Don't worry about what others think." She rarely cries, but really let loose with some serious, quiet sobbing. Nothing VOCAL, but if you saw us in the airport, you would have seen me rushing her to our connection as she just hung on to my hand with huge tears rolling down her face. And I was P.I.S.S.E.D. OFF! So, I'm sure I was not wearing a smile.
I got so many dirty looks it was not funny. A few heads shaken at me and a couple of "tut-tut"s. Judged and convicted... pissed off mom terrorizing her little girl, dragging her to the gate. If only people knew the real story.
On our trip, a goal was to bring back a $#!+ load of Kinder Surprise eggs. We used to live in Germany and this is a fond memory for her. I planned ahead and had the farmer I buy my eggs from give me 2 empty egg cartons to bring them back safely.
To make a long story short, I screwed up royally. I had a sandwich in my bag from the Italy - Germany leg and being the honest person that I am, told the customs guys that I had "produce". They took the sandwich and said, "No big deal, you can keep it." (It was cheese and lettuce... I thought the lettuce would be a customs no-no.) While we were there, though, they scanned all of our bags.
Kinder eggs, we come to find out, are illegal in the US. We knew you couldn't buy them, but for PERSONAL consumption?? Still illegal. They made us take every single one apart and they confiscated the great little toys inside (we got to keep the chocolate, which really is insignificant, as it isn't the draw for these... if you know them, you'll understand what I mean). Doesn't matter that my dd is 8 and the parts are unsafe for 3 and under. Still illegal.
Dd was so upset! I apologized profusely to her. (It WAS all my fault!! We would have just zipped through "nothing to declare" if I hadn't been such and airhead!) She, in her typically level headed way said, "Mommy, you can't help it. You didn't know. But I think I'm going to cry."
I told her that I felt like crying, too, but was too mad to cry. I said, "Cry all you want, honey. Don't worry about what others think." She rarely cries, but really let loose with some serious, quiet sobbing. Nothing VOCAL, but if you saw us in the airport, you would have seen me rushing her to our connection as she just hung on to my hand with huge tears rolling down her face. And I was P.I.S.S.E.D. OFF! So, I'm sure I was not wearing a smile.
I got so many dirty looks it was not funny. A few heads shaken at me and a couple of "tut-tut"s. Judged and convicted... pissed off mom terrorizing her little girl, dragging her to the gate. If only people knew the real story.
