An interview with Obama April 30, 2008
Posted by spacemom in : Current Affairs , add a commentThe Momocrats have an interview with Obama. Why not stop over and read? http://momocrats.typepad.com/momocrats/2008/05/momocrats-exclu.html
Money! It’s a crime April 30, 2008
Posted by spacemom in : Current Affairs, Kids , 3 commentsSo how do you keep your children from being spoiled? That’s a tough question. It’s one that I grapple with daily.
I have a friend (
You know who you are!) Who was kind enough to share her wealth with us in February. Her family had recently bought a new jet and her husband wanted to get more flying time in. She invited all of us who were visiting her to go on her jet from Kissimee to Key West. Now to me, this was generous. They paid for the fuel and the time of the second pilot. They allowed us to visit a place that most of us in the group would never had gone to (I personally LOVED Key West and I would love to go there again! and again). On the way back to Kissimee, we had the discussion of how to keep it real for kids.
Now my friend, yes, she has money. But she hasn’t ALWAYS had money. Her husband owns at least 2 businesses. One here, one in Europe. Flying is a major part of his life, so turning the work into a hobby makes sense. But they also have two children. They travel to Europe often. The kids sometimes go with the parents, sometimes not. Sometimes the nanny comes. The kids have learned what their normal is. Their normal is that Daddy gets the plane ready and they fly off when they need to travel long distances. My Friend is concerned about how to keep life real for them.
To be honest, Jay and I wonder about that too. Not for her children, but ours. So far, the girls have gone to Florida, Maryland, Ohio, New York, Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, North Carolina, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania (and Tennessee for Luna). Except for the New England states, this is a LOT of travel. Luna’s not even 4 yet. And Hawaii? They’ve been there TWICE in their lives. Most of this is work or family travel. Our family is all over the place. Work takes us several places. But still I got asked last week "Mommy, why are we driving to Maryland? Can’t we just take a plane?" I explained the cost of things, the cost of airfare, etc. It did make me realize how my girls are accustomed to a certain life style.
To offset what they see in terms of travel, I noticed that we started to make other changes. When they put some of their allowance in the Tzdakah bank, Jay and I match the amount they put in. When I see someone at a traffic light asking for money, I will sometimes give it to them. I try to make sure we give to the food bank, in front of the girls. We talk about each of these events and why we do it.
We also talk to them about corporate greed. When we discuss something about smoking or the mortgage collapse in the country, the girls will often ask why? Why are people mean to other people? Unfortunately, the answer is almost always money. The smoking industry wants to money. The sub prime loans were an attempt to procure higher monthly payments. Money. Money. Money. The girls come to their own conclusion that this is not right. And we agree. We try over and over to explain how money is not the end all be all of life. It’s what you do that matters, not what you own.
I just hope that we can show by example and not have to make our children go through the stress of day to day money woes to not be spoiled and to appreciate what they have.
