Lots of families have that non-stop birthday bonanza like us.
After I became a mother, I understood the deep significance of birth days.
Maybe as much for the mother as the child.
So, I like to make birthdays special.
Elle had her first friend party.
Then we went to my in-laws for Thanksgiving, and she celebrated there too.
Then we returned home and it was her actual birthday and so we celebrated again.
Jia, since she is only 2 and friend-limited, had one party.
Just the 5 of us.
She was happy. We were happy.
(I adore this picture even though it's not topnotch. She is so psyched to have that ladybug helmet!)
Henry is exceptionally relational.
Since he didn't have preschool on his actual birthday, we invited some friends to celebrate with us.
Then his grandparents came and we celebrated some more.
Then we had a pool party for him and 10 or 11 friends.
(I left the camera at home.)
One child at Henry's party cried when he found out I didn't have goody bags.
His mom is a good mom, I know.
He's just been trained by expectation.
No judgement.
But it is revealing.
Parenting is a process.
For me it is.
Honoring my children matters to me.
Yet, through this season I realized that we overdid the birthday attention this year.
Seriously.
I googled how much parents spend on children's birthday parties.
Wow.
For a larger party, when all is said and done, about $200-$300.
Yeah, (sigh), sounds about right.
Some of the links were shocking. shocking!
40k for a 6-year-old party, and she even got a car!
What?#@#%$?!!
The world's wealth is sorely unbalanced.
Occupy Wall Street's tagline is "We are the 99%," (right?)
My friend Julie pointed out that on the world scale,
we're the 1%, and the rest of the world is the 99%.
Thought provoking...
I'm not suggesting depriving our kids.
I just want to make wiser decisions.
Invest the extra $100 or so into a college fund,
or feeding an orphan for nearly a year.
In the process I hope Henry, Eliana and Jia develop character that values the giver more than the gifts;
that understands who they are and what they have are utterly separate
I'll have to be patient.
It could take 30 years, or so
I too am a work in progress.
I too need to learn these same lessons.
My birthday is coming up...
