I wish this post was about my love for labels and my need to buy expensive handbags and jeans, but that was all squelched 10 years ago when I had my first child. It is so easy to spoil kids these days. We have tried to keep it in check from the get go. We don't buy toys unless it's a holiday and clothes are bought on an as-needed basis. Even still with our daughter being the first grandchild on either side combined with 2 friends who think our children are theirs to spoil, it can be difficult to keep our little angels from becoming little spoiled devils.
I was raised not to ask for things. My dad made good money when I was young but I had shoes from payless and clothes from Sears. When I started working I could buy the labels my teenage heart desired. My parents were both raised poor , plus they were older and very conservative so they just couldn't justify paying for the nikes I thought I needed to fit in. I buy my kids name brand shoes probably just because of this. And truth is they aren't even old enough to care.
It is really important to me that THINGS don't become important to them. And after this year's Christmas I realized they were loosing the appreciation they once had. Mostly my 6 year old son. He has always been hyper appreciative. He would thank you for lunch or a hug as if he had never had them. It was his most endearing quality. But I noticed gifts would get broken within days of being opened and he began constantly asking for things. Where did we go wrong? We literally never buy them anything!
And so when they started asking for an Xbox 360 with a Kinect, I knew this was our chance to teach them the value of things,that they cost money and money had to be earned. Also that in life we give up things to get things because otherwise we are owned by things.
I told them we would purge our home of all "extras" and have a yard sale. Also we would sell our Wii because we don't need 2 gaming systems. My kids have never kept their rooms clean and I take complete responsibility for that. I don't live that way myself and have not instilled that in them(that will be addressed in a future imaginary blog where I start keeping a neat house). My hope was that getting rid of our excess would help them keep their rooms in order.
So I went through our room and all the common rooms and they helped me in their rooms. My son set a goal for himself to get rid of 100 items. He actually easily had 120 items. Not to be out done, my daughter set her goal at 120 items and ended up with 130. YAY. 250 toys we would never have to pick up again. I sold her Barbie items including a year old $150 rv on facebook for $50. It was heart wrenching. She is only 9 and completely over barbies. But they went to a good home and will hopefully be enjoyed. That left us $250 shy of our $300 goal. We earned $148 at our yard sale and sold our Wii for $125. So this weekend I purchased their gaming system with money that they had had earned and given things up for.
I hope this is a step towards raising them to appreciate things and not be owned my them.
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