08.01.09
The Recession: Do Our Kids Even Know What it Means?
Let me start off with how thankful I am in this down economy my husband and I still have jobs. I don’t say that lightly. Let me also say how thankful my kids are for our jobs! Take this summer for instance. I’m not sure how things got away from us but let me share.
The original plan was about compromise. To some, the compromise we decided to make with our kids might sound a little far fetched but I guess it’s all relative. The twins really wanted to go back to summer sleepaway camp for 6 weeks. We allowed 4 weeks and the remainder of the summer they would attend a very cheap town camp. Ok, that works right?
The older one wanted to go to sleepaway for 4 weeks but he was LUCKY to land a lifeguard job at the young age of 15 and he jumped on it. In addition, his friend’s family offered to take him to the Domincan Republic for a week in August. So, we said, you can’t have it all so choose. He chose wisely (at least we all thought at the time); the Dominican and the job….WHEW.
So far so good right? WRONG. Here is where it all fell apart.
As I was writing the check for my 15 year old to visit the Dominican I realized it was such a great deal that maybe we should all go. After all, we were saving all this money since he was not going to attend sleepaway this year right? So, you got it! We booked a trip for all 5 of us. Hey, can’t pass up a great deal right? Ok, well we’re still ahead because we’re saving all that money on sleepaway.
So, everyone goes up to camp - the twins, my 15 year old’s friends, etc. Everyone but our 15 year old who got very depressed at the thought of not seeing his buddies, not finishing up the 6 years, not having closure, yada yada. OK, enough already! We caved and allowed him to go for 2 weeks only but he had to work on the weekends so he would ensure he would keep this job. Thankfully the job kept him on.
Now onto the twins. At camp, they’re allowed to call home at night so every night the phone call began with “can we extend another 2 weeks?”. I was getting tired of answering the phone! You know what they say about twins and double trouble? It’s not true at all….nope, it’s quadruple trouble!!! The crying, the negotiating, the promises…it was enough to drive us insane. I called up the cheap town camp that I had already paid in full to see if we could get a refund- our money was basically gone. For one week we tried everything we could to figure out how they could stay another 2 weeks and we came up empty. Believe it or not I lost sleep over this.
Wednesday night came around and Friday was to be their last day. They gave us their last pleas and we just couldn’t come up with anything. Finally out of sheer frustration I blurted out, “look if you want to stay so badly, you’re going to pay half of it…we’ll meet you halfway, we just can’t afford it”. The first twin hesitated a lot. He wanted to know if we would pay him back, to which we replied, “NO”. We said if it means that much to you, then we’re taking half out of your bank to pay. After he realized it truly was our final answer he actually agreed. Twin number 2 (the more generous one) would have coughed up the whole thing but we just asked him for half as well. Twin number 2 was saving for a laptop and just saw that go out the window but that’s the choice he made.
So yes, some might find it surprising but we did actually take money out of our children’s bank accounts for camp. We also told them no, shopping, no video games, no eating out. In fact, when their friends offered to take them to the amusement park last week, we told them they could go but they would have to bring their own money.
Are they happy about the decision? I truly believe they areThey are so thankful to be able to have this wonderful summer experience. To some they might sound spoiled but to me they have learned to appreciate things because we don’t just hand things over to them. We are glad we were able to do this for them but we’re equally happy they see what a struggle life is and how it’s all about choices and this choice took some weight out of their pockets as well. As a side note, I’m happy to say, I will get a partial refund from the town camp - an unexpected gift.
As for the older one, since he’s working we haven’t given him any spending money at all. Funny how he’s beginning to like peanut butter again after an order of french fries at the snack bar reduced his thin wallet by $3.25 and an Arizona Iced Tea decreased it by another $2.25. Hmmmm maybe this brown bag thing isn’t so stupid after all is it?
As for us, we had some nice peaceful weeks without kids in the house. And, we still have the Domincan trip which we never would have booked if we would have realized how much this summer would cost. Time for some more belt tightening. All I can say is when I die, I want to come back as one of my kids!
Stumble it!