Give me Give me!

I was reading an article about a little boy who was given a $4000 tree house when he was 9 months old. The mother goes on to say that he is allowed to buy whatever he wants, be it toys or books. He’s now all of 3 1/2 and has travelled to countries that I can only dream of.  She claims that she wants her child to have different life experiences and not grow up to be narrow-minded. I tend to think that she’s breeding an indulged child who has no concept of a dollar.

I consider my children very lucky, sure they don’t go on ten trips a year nor do they have expensive toys. But they never lack love, attention or any material comfort that they need. If money wasn’t an issue, I would love to bring them to different countries and experience different cultures and lifestyles.

We can afford to give them a lot more than we ever had, but I always stress to Ally that it’s not a given. She should not expect to eat at restaurants all the time, going on holidays is a luxury and we don’t buy everything we see just because we want it. Ally understands that Matt works long and hard to earn money for the family. As she once said put it, ” Dada goes to work so that we can buy chicken rice”

Instead of indulging her every fancy, we point out that she has similar toys at home or she has to wait till a special occasion. Personally, I find that she treasures the item a lot more when she’s had to wait or save up for it. When you bury children in toys, it starts to lose its meaning. Who cares if I lose one car, I still have hundreds more. They forget what they have and don’t appreciate it. I admit, both my kids have lots of toys. They are lucky to have been given them by friends and relatives. I relentlessly cull or rotate their toys as I’ve seen firsthand how careless they start to be when they have too many choices.

Now, back to the mom who gives her child everything. She states in the article that “I want him to be versatile and know that there’s a world beyond him, his school  and playground.” How can she expect the child to see beyond himself when all she does is indulge him? Think about it.