Depriving Our Kids by Today's Standards

This is something that I've wrestled with myself and find myself feeling twinges of guilt when I do things that would have been the norm when I was a kid.

My daughter's birthday party is a small example.

She had a sleep over party which was actually a "piece of cake" compared to the parties of older days when they where all younger.

But instead of buying a cake, as we seem to have gotten into the habit of, we made one (well, my husband made it, he's home right now and likes to putter in the kitchen, his name is Dean so we call him chef boy r'Dean) If you look, you can see it says Happy B Day Christina if you turn it while you're reading - I like the smartie decore :0)

My daughter didn't really care either way, the thrill of a fancy store bought cake must have worn off I guess. (which is another question, how often do they even care?)

Actually, I prefer the "homeyness" of a homemade cake myself, even if mine are invariably lopsided.

Anyway, it got me thinking about how the more they have, the less they seem to appreciate things and how cutting back is really giving them far more in character and even happiness. It is an adult thing too. And it is especially hard these days as some kids truly do have "everything" and there is a lot to choose from in the high tech toys of today (I want them too!).

Jill Cooper from Living on a Dime wrote an article about it called "Are We Really Depriving Our Kids"?

She talks about the emotional overload of too many toys, which is a huge concept and something that applies to clutter in general, and giving your kids your values instead of valuables.

It might help alleviate some guilt the next time you need to say no. I know it is going to help me stay on track!

One more thing, it's a good habit to get into, although my older kids didn't get as spoiled as my youngest, they are now at the stage where they are asking for ipods and cars (not to mention insurance).

And they can be quite convincing. I do find all of this a window of opportunity to teach them negotiating skills though and the value of having a job (or even better, their own business - still working on that).