This post brought to you by Dollar General. All opinions are 100% mine.

Darah is 4 years old, and in my book, totally not old enough to be chewing gum. Even though I really enjoy chewing gum, myself (shout out, peppermint flavor!), I try not to chew it in front of her, because she will ALWAYS ask if she can have any.

Why won’t I let her? To be honest, it has to do with my own misuse of gum as a child. I had very long hair (just as Darah does, currently) and I would get gum stuck in my hair. A LOT. To the point where my father found me one day locked in the bathroom having asked my brother to go get the scissors for me and slide them under the door. I also instructed him to NOT tell dad, who was home with us at the time. Thank goodness he went straight to dad, because if he hadn’t, I would have cut a chunk out of my hair! I was around 7 at the time, years older than my 4 year old, and yet I still was being irresponsible with gum.

Tim thinks perhaps it isn’t fair to use my past as a grounds for not letting Darah try something new. I can see where he is coming from, but I’ve been holding my ground on this one.

I’ve had to travel a lot for work this year, and after one recent trip, Darah very excitedly told me as soon as I got home that her daddy gave her a piece of gum.

Sigh……

Let that be a lesson to us all. Your children WILL tell on you when you do something sneaky behind your spouse’s back!

Now to Tim’s credit, he talked with Darah at length about how to chew gum (and not swallow it, not play with it, not stick it places other than the trash) and Darah is quite a rule follower, so she seemed to understand what was being asked of her in exchange for this big girl promotion to “gum chewer” status.

So now getting to chew a piece of gum is a very special thing, which happens only occasionally, and with adult supervision. I’m still not so sure about if it was the right call to let this pass, but perhaps I should just be open to the possibility that my little one will be responsible with her gum.

And now I’ve got to keep the house stocked with something yummy for us all. Darah seems to like the peppermint flavor, just like me, so I’m going to be getting the NEW Orbit Value Pack, available at Dollar General. They come with two 7 piece packs for 14 pieces of gum total. And why Dollar General? Because they have the very lowest prices on the value pack. I’m all about saving some money, people! They come in peppermint or spearmint, so you can choose your favorite.

I’ll keep you posted on if the Orbit® gum stays in its proper orbit (hee hee) or if it launches into a realm that isn’t allowed (please let it not be her hair…)

So what do you think? When did you let your children start chewing gum? And has your child ever “told” on your significant other?