Do "Over the top" birthday parties bother you?

mom2collegekids
Sun, 27 Feb 2011 16:33:39 +0000

*I think good food might be the worst thing to give up. Good restaurants and expensive grocery store items are a thing of the past for most entry-level job holders, if they were raised on those things.

*

When my H was transferred across country with his job, another family moved at the same time. That family was used to having 2 high incomes, but when they moved, the mom lost her income (she had a “high profile real estate” career, which takes years to build up and doesn’t transfer).

She told me that two of the hardest adjustments for her 4 kids involved going to restaurants and purchasing clothes. They had been used to ordering appetizers, “mocktails” (virgin cocktails), desserts, in addition to ordering whatever main dishes they wanted. Her kids were also used to only buying “name brands” and never looking at prices or sales.

She realized that she had created these “monsters” (as much as she loved them). All of these luxuries were "standard’ to them. They felt like they were seriously being denied when most of these luxuries had to stop. don’t get me wrong; they still lived better than 95% of kids out there…LOL

Unless you’re so wealthy that you can set up trust funds for each of your kids to largely subsidize their lowly salaries as young adults, little of this spoiling is a good idea.

*Damn, I wish I was getting a $5000 allowance from my parents!!! *

One of my best friends still has a credit card that her mom pays every month. My friend’s H doesn’t earn a lot, and her parents don’t want her to work, so they pay her credit card bill each month. They also pay for her kids’ private school tuition. She’s an only child and her parents are very affluent. They probably think…well, she’ll get the money now or later…LOL