by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Do not educate your child to be rich. Instead educate your child to be happy, so, when when he or she grows up, he or she will know the value of things, NOT the price.
Spending time with your child is more important than spending money on them.
This is, however, something that many parents do not seem to understand and they buy them things to make up for the lack of time that they spend with their children.
Buying children presents and everything that they desire and showering them with allowances of tens of dollars a day does not make up for time spent with then and love given to them.
I remember the words of someone who wrote: “Every birthday my Dad bought me some new fishing kit but I would rather had him go fishing with me”.
And this is just it... It is not the things but the time that you spend with your child or children and the attention that you give them that they will value more than anything.
Take your children hiking, fishing, garden with them, read with them, make things with them. They will value that time that you spend with them above anything you can buy them.
On the other hand if you just hand them things and “spoil” them in that way they will never value things and know the value of things.
I grew up rather poor but it has not hurt me as the family and clan surrounded me with love and affection and gave their time to be with me and teach me things.
Money was always in short supply but that did not matter for we made our own things and our own entertainment. There were very few bought toys and those that were there were mended time and again rather than new ones being bought and, in fact, we rather had it that way for we were fond of those few toys. Thus repair was more preferable than new ones that were not the ones we loved.
We learned to value things and the value of things and this has put me in good stead, I believe, for life proper. We learned to make things, often from what others would have considered waste and this ethos is still with me today in that I look at every item of what would be considered trash with a view of its reuse possibilities and ways to repurpose and upcycle it.
The upbringing that I received taught me to value money and things and to get the most out of everything that I have but is also has turned me somewhat, since I am settled, into a pack rat in that I hat to throw anything away that may just be remotely reusable. But that is just a minor inconvenience, I think.
© 2012
