When I took Caroline to Target for a post-Christmas shopping trip, she wanted to look for a new winter coat (to be paid for by me) and makeup and accessories (to be paid for by her, with some Christmas money). We had no success finding a coat — apparently Target execs don’t think anyone in Chicago over the age of 12 still needs a winter coat in the first week of January. Instead, we need swimsuits! — but the trip was a grand success for one of us. Teresa, confined to the seat in the shopping cart, saw a red taffeta dress while we waited for Caroline. It had been part of an effort to sell some higherend merchandise at Target; apparently, Target shoppers didn’t want higher-end prices, because there were several left marked at 70 percent off their original $60 price tag. Good thing, too, because when Teresa saw that dress, she fell in love. I was toting some Christmas gift cards of my own, and with a price of less than $20, I figured it was worth the splurge. She carried the dress through the rest of the store, not willing to set it down in the cart in fear that it might somehow disappear before we got to the checkout. I admit, that’s been known to happen, especially when the merchandise in question is something I don’t think we really need. Then we went by the shoes, where I had been planning to buy her a pair of black Mary Janes so she would have something besides sneakers and winter boots. But her eyes lighted on a pair of glittery turquoise ballet flats — also on clearance — and she declared that they would be the perfect accompaniment to wear with her red taffeta dress. I checked with Caroline, who has become my fashion consultant: Can you really wear turquoise shoes with a red dress? Yes, Caroline said, if you want to look like Dr. Seuss. What the heck, I thought, you’re only 3 once. If you can’t dress like a Dr. Seuss character then, when can you? So we bought the dress and the shoes, and Teresa put them on as soon as we got home. She wore them to the sitter’s house and the library the next day, with the addition of a turquoise long-sleeved T-shirt underneath. And the day after that, she cried when I said she couldn’t wear the dress (now smelling of apple juice and salsa) again until it got washed. The point, I guess, is that it’s a human impulse for parents to give their children what they want, as long as it’s within reason and not harmful to them or too annoying to the people around them. And that even in giving gifts, there have to be limits, because no matter how much we get, we always want at least one little thing more. Jesus knew that, and used it in explaining his Father’s love for us. His Father — our Father — would not give his child a stone when the child asks for bread (Mt 7:8-10). But maybe he wouldn’t give the child cake every day either. And maybe retailers should still stock winter coats in January.