Simple Pleasures

It is so easy for children to become totally self-centered and spoiled in today's world. Every where you turn our society screams give me, give me, give me and many parents get pulled right into this mentality.

Even Christian parents are not exempt from this. Every time they go to the store they must buy something for their child or else the little darling throws a first class fit!

We determined from the beginning of our parenting experience that this would not happen to our children and so far we have been pretty successful in this area. There was a time when Nathan was about 4 and Stephen was 3 that whenever we went to the mall, we would purchase them a little matchbox car. Even though it was only about a dollar at the time, we could see that a habit was beginning to be instilled in them and it was expected that this would be the norm. So we stopped doing this so that it would not become a pattern. We still would get them one every now and then but made sure it wasn't every single time.

As a result of all of this, our children are really very content. They don't expect us to purchase them all sorts of things. When we do get them something, no matter how small they appreciate it. Even our teenagers thank us ! LOL!

My mother-in-law sent each of the children a letter the other day with a dollar for each of them for ice cream. You would of thought that it was $50 each given the level of excitement!

So tonight we went grocery shopping and got ice cream while we were there. It was definitely a simple thing that gave them tons of pleasure.

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Of course, Emily is allergic to dairy so she had a Sponge Bob pop which was basically all chemicals. :-)
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Thank you, Grandma!

Comments

  1. That's sooo true! I see kids in Walmart every week throwing HUGE fits because they aren't getting what they want. I refuse to let that be one of my kids...so we've done the same as you :) Once they get a little older I teach them the joy of Clearance!!! Dallas had earned a little money the other week and yesterday was a BIG day for her...she got $45 worth of latch hook kits...for $6.50!!! She was more excited about the savings than anything I think! But she waited three weeks for that one kit...that's a skill most kids just don't get anymore :(

    Love You,
    Laura in VA

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  2. You have been so busy since I last popped in. I feel bad now cause I missed out on some adventures! Great efforts with the Weightwatchers. I am having trouble focusing. I seem to get extra greedy as soon as I try to be good. Your children look so sweet. I love the story about the ice-creams! XXX

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  3. Contentment is such a wonderful thing and it is so sweet to see your children taking pleasure in a simple treat! I'm sure it is a blessing to your heart!
    Good job!!

    I hope you enjoy a lovely weekend!!

    Sharon

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  4. This is so true Terri! Just about every time I go to the store someone comments on how good my kids are. It is only because we started early teaching them how to act in the store. :^)

    Love the story of the ice cream too!

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  5. Your children are a credit to you. Glad you had a lovely time - bet you're glad to be home though!

    Phoebe

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  6. Well, I have been teaching my kids how to act in the store their whole lives, and yet, it has not seemed to take. If I take one at a time things go well, but if I take both they seem to just feed off of each other, acting wilder and wilder. As far as the contentment goes, my daughter is very thankful, doesn't expect to get something all of the time, etc. My son, however, can have a pretty bad attitude about it at times. We are really working on that. I got in a bad habit a while back of every time we went to the Dollar Store letting them go pick a bag of chips (3/$1.00), get a drink (0.25), or get a candy or something small like that, and I could definitely see that it was setting up HUGE expectations of getting something EVERY SINGLE time we went to the store. Long story short, that stopped.

    One thing that has helped me with them is when they ask for something, I say "do you have enough money for that?" That puts it in perspective for them real quick, as they decide they maybe don't want to spend their money on that so badly. Sometimes they do choose to get what they want with their own money, and are sorry later when they find something better because it's gone. But, it's helping them to learn.

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