Body, Mind, Spirit
I chose white for this week and in the process discovered the air around here is yellow. Everything reflects a hint of soft gold or umber. The white stripe in the second to the last picture is a hard water stain. I took long walks and short walks and took pictures of the obvious and the not so obvious. I walked past the white rocks 6 times this week before I noticed them on Saturday evening, which I thought is a lot how life goes in general. People, solutions, paths–sometimes what you need has been in front of you all along.
Song of the Week
Mikey wanted to dress up as a paleontologist for career day and had this complicated costume idea which I wanted no part of, though I did offer to make him a shirt. He still wanted a “paleontologist jacket and pants,” so I agreed at the last minute to check the racks at Goodwill. This thrilled Mikey because he loves thrift stores and flea markets. They appeal to his frugal nature.
He’s been asking me to be a member of Club Penguin for two years, and this year I agreed grudgingly after I heard a few moms I respect let their sons get memberships. This is before I knew there were free memberships and paid memberships. The fun, of course, happens with the $67 memberships. We told Mikey he could have a free membership but would have to save and pay for anything extra. He agreed and within 6 months of good grades, jobs for family, and Christmas money, he was ready for membership. This entire time I knew he was getting membership gift cards in his Easter basket from family, but I still let him save and work because I figured it was a good lesson in money management. When he came up to me shortly before Easter with 67 hard-earned dollars in his hands, I suggested he hold off for just a little longer. “You should wait until after Easter, Mikey. You never know–maybe you’ll get something Club Penguin related and you won’t have to spend your savings.”
“That’s an excellent idea, mom. You know why? Because I’m cheap.”
We made quick work of the Goodwill. We found a jacket for Mikey and cargo pants for Nicholas, who also wanted to be a paleontologist. I made the shirt for Mikey late that night and survived his micromanagement. I will never forget that Tyrannosaurus has two Ns, I can’t promise you that much.
The Goodwill knows a good opportunity when it sees one, and they took full advantage of Mackelmore and Ryan Lewis’s Thrift Shop song. There are posters all over the store with some of the lyrics that Mikey immediately recognized–of course it’s one of his favorite songs. He’s still naive enough that he misses the bleeps and silences injected to mask the bad words when he hears it on the radio. It’s a great song, but I wish it wasn’t so explicit. I’d let him listen to it beyond the infrequent radio play otherwise. I downloaded the “family safe” version but I guess I have a different idea of what family safe means.
This video is NSFW
I had a similar experience to Mikey when I was 7 or 8 years old. I saved and saved to buy my own bicycle, and when my birthday came, and all the cards had been opened, I was like $10 short. Being the responsible little adult that I was, I nicely thanked everyone for their gifts, and went to my room to cry alone and contemplate finding something else to spend the money on, since it seemed a bicycle was just not in my future.
My dad came into my room and handed me a $10 bill, told me I was too young to worry so much about money (a trait I still possess), then insisted that I go look in the garage. There it was the whole time – my perfect bicycle – and I was so proud to count out and hand over the money that I don’t think my parents had the heart to tell me not to. Turned out they were never planning to have me actually PAY for the bicycle, just use the whole thing as a lesson in saving responsibly – but instead, they took it and offered to use it to set up my first bank account…which, for a kid who was already fiscally responsible, sounded like the perfect idea. It’s also one of my favorite memories of being a kid – that first trip to the bank to set up my very own savings account. I’m sure I wiped it clean buying candy or nail polish…but hey, it was MY money to burn. :-)
You guys did the right thing, trust me – your children will grow up with a healthy respect for money, which I found out in college not a lot of young adults have. Sure, I’m still up to my eyeballs in debt from student loans…but it could have been a lot worse had my parents not taught me to save when I can, and to only buy things I save up the money to afford. :-)
As I approach 30 years old next week…I’m kinda glad my parents did stuff like that for me. I can’t imagine where I’d be if they hadn’t!
Ignorance is bliss! I don’t think my 11 year old has a clue that there is paid Club Penguin and I’m not telling her!