Does anyone else out there get the feeling that our kids think we have bottomless pockets of cash? I am not one to burden kids with financial worries and I hate telling them that we simply cannot afford to do something. However, I really do wonder if many kids are getting used to getting everything they want and whether we are feeding the ‘buy it now’, ‘spend on credit’ way of life for the future the way yeast feeds on sugar.
For example, the kids are coming over for their holiday break. I asked them what they would like to do. Let’s examine the responses: Go on the skyrail, go-carting, shop for lego, everyone go out together for a meal in a nice restaurant. What happened to fishing, riding bikes and swimming?! When did we lose the delights of FREE FUN?
Let’s face it. I’m no better. If ever I have cash in my wallet (in doesn’t matter how much), and I go to the mall, it may as well grow wings and fly out as fast as I can get my purse open. It doesn’t matter how little or much I was planning to spend. It just dissolves into a sea that I’d like to call ‘Retailtopia’.
Again, we took the kids to a 3D movie last holidays, grand total, $70.00!! I nearly fell over. I’m looking at the kids like, ‘you know this means we can’t eat for another week’ and all they do is ask for ice-cream and pop-corn.
I’ve heard that the only way to become rich is to spend LESS than what you MAKE. HA! Does this person have kids? Do they understand the pressure of guilt? Don’t they know that we all want our kids to have EVERYTHING we didn’t have?
So, in this case the symptom has created the disease. We try to give them everything that maybe you would expect from a millionaire mum and dad, but in doing so, we sabotage our financial sanity. I just can’t wait to be a grandma and hear my kids complain about the bloomin’ space ship that they have buy to send their kids to the moon for a summer vacation!
How corny was that?
