So I’m at the supermarket yesterday when I see a mother talking to her son, who must have been all of five years old. She’s pushing their shopping cart and he’s hanging off the end of it, and I hear her telling me, “G-elt, not Guilt. They’re different. Guilt your born with, gelt is something you are given.” (For those who don’t know, gelt is the Yiddish word for money.)

I started chuckling to myself as she continued.

“Guilt is something mommy feels when she doesn’t get you a present that you want. Gelt is what mommy uses to buy you that present.”

Now, I started laughing. The mother made eye contact with me and I said, “Now, I like that.”

“Ah, the life lessons we’ve got to teach every day.”

As they turned the corner to the next isle I heard her kid say, “I like that, I like that.”