Special vs. Spoiled

So this weekend something very exciting is happening in my house.  Something I’ve dreamed about doing for years…

Credit

We’re taking the kids to the circus! 

I am so ridiculously excited – way more than any adult should ever be about a circus.

As a kid, I loved the circus.  I still have incredibly vivid memories of being in the car on the way - we always went at night, and pulling in and the civic center was all lit up.  Our family and my cousin’s family would go together.  I can close my eyes and perfectly picture them turning off the lights and the crowd waving their “Winky Blinkies.”

Don't click this link unless you wanna cry at how cheap these things really are.

Now, we were not rich by any means.  Today’s standards would have probably classified us as poor.  I have no idea how my parents afforded to take their family of five to the circus, but they did it.  We always got popcorn and cotton candy – and that was usually it. 

But I remember the year my parents bought us “Winky Blinkies.”  That was a big deal.  We couldn’t afford just to throw money away every year on a new one.  We actually saved them and took them back year after year.   I remember longing after a giant character balloon.  (Which my parents rightly knew would be a total waste of money.) 

My husband and I both had amazing childhoods that we wouldn’t trade for anything, but I remember wanting a “Winky Blinky” so bad.  And I think that leads us to overindulge our kids at times.  (But that’s for a therapist to figure out.)

In this “disposable” society, how many of us moms would have our children keep a $10 toy, year after year, to only take it to the circus?  We’d say it wasn’t worth it.  But that was a lot of money (3 kids x 3 toys = $30) to my parents.

Which brings me to a very interesting point, how do you know the difference between spoiling and something special?   We are in a place, financially, we can do things for our children that we couldn’t do for them a year ago.  But I never want to have children who think that they get a toy every time they go to the store.  Or isn’t satisfied with a Winky Blinky. 

This weekend will be an interesting test of how we balance our financial freedom and parental restraint.   Stay tuned next week for the run down of our spending…