A neighbor invited me to a barbeque at her house, and I took two of my kids with me. Met Other Mom there and we start chatting, just friendly banter among this Other Mom, the Host, and me--just three moms of elementary kids, chatting. The subject of kids' allowances comes up, and Our Host mentions that she 'owes' some money to her two kids b/c she didn't have cash on hand when allowance time came up.
Other Mom says, "oh, boy, well, I actually owe my daughter because I raid her piggy bank sometimes."
Me: "Well, if you're short on cash b/c you never carry it--I mean, who does, these days?-- I could see using the kids' piggy bank as the ATM now and then."
OM: "It's really bad, though. Like, I can't even tell you how much I owe her."
Me: {thinking, okay, nbd}
Host: "How much?"
OM: "A lot."
Host: "I think I owe my oldest about $50 by now b/c I'm so far behind, so don't feel bad."
OM: "Um, it's more like, let's see . . . {starts counting on her fingers and mumbling} two, three, four, no, five hundred forty dollars."
Me: {blinks and tries to keep a blank look and also thinking that that is about 8 1/2 months of allowance for all three of my kids, and she's talking about one kid}
Host: "What? No way!"
OM to Host: "It was when we went away together that week a couple months ago, and they were doing some weird catch-up thing on payroll at work, so my check was like, only $150 that week. I couldn't make it that whole week of vacation on that! So I borrowed from my daughter."
Host: "We had such a good time that week!"
OM to Host: "I know! We should do that again!! Oh, you know what, we're going to Costa Rica for a week in June!! I can't wait."
I bit my tongue. Didn't ask how she was paying for the week in Costa Rica or if she planned to borrow from her 10 year old again for that trip, too.