The Demise of the Music Truck

For the longest time, Daniel and I called the ice cream truck “the music truck,” which left our kids with the impression that it was just a truck, driving around all afternoon playing music for kids. This terminology conveniently eliminated daily discussion over whether or not to buy ice cream.

And as long as they never asked about ice cream, we never felt the need to mention it.

Here in the city, we have several “music trucks” making their rounds from early afternoon to late evening, all summer long. So it’s not just a once-a-day thought. It’s more like alllll afternoon, every day, allll summer long!

Sometime last summer, Mara figured it out. I remember her coming to me near the end of the summer, saying, “Mommy, I saw these people going up to the music truck–and when they walked away, they had ice cream!”

She had this expression that said, “I’m sure I saw it, but we’ve never talked about it before. And we all looovvve ice cream!”

Honestly, I was surprised this hadn’t come up sooner. I was frank with her. “Yes,” I said, “Most people call it the ‘ice cream truck’ since you can get ice cream there, but we don’t buy ice cream there, so we just call it the music truck, since it plays music.”

She seemed okay with that explanation.

But over time, seeing people come and go–with ice cream and various other treats–has, of course, piqued her interest and increased her desire to buy ice cream from the “music truck.”

Tonight we had yet another discussion.

“Mommy, why can’t we buy ice cream from the music truck?” she asked.

“We get our ice cream on sale at Shoprite,” I told her, “and it costs a lot more to buy ice cream from the ice cream truck.”

Then Micah chimes in. Surprisingly my three-year-old: arguing “Why We Should Not Buy Ice Cream From The Music Truck.”

“Mara!” he exclaimed in a ‘you-should-know-better’ tone of voice. “We already have ice cream!–In the freezer!”

“YES!” I laughed to myself. “Someone has been listening!”

When you consider that I pay $1.99 – $2.50 for our ice cream, and that serves the whole family two or three times, it’s really hard to justify buying ice cream from the ice cream truck. But of course, my four-year-old is just not thinking on that level yet.

“When I grow up, I’m going to let my kids buy ice cream from the music truck,” Mara declared.

And, as Daniel said, when she grows up and is earning her own money, she can certainly make that decision for her kids if she wants! . . . I know. We’re such mean parents. . .

Maybe it will surprise you to know that Daniel will, however, take the kids for water ice several times throughout the summer.

When I get off bedrest . . . . .