| Raising my
children is driving me into the poor house. Every week some
piece of colored paper with wacky clipart begs me for more
money. Between snacks for preschool and soccer games,
wrapping paper fundraisers, field trips to pumpkin patches
and Storyland theater, school pictures and prizes for the
good behavior treasure box, I am all tapped out. Slowly but
surely, the village that is helping me to raise my children
is also nickel-and-diming me into pauper-hood.
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At
the risk of drowning in the waters of nostalgia,
I reflect on my own childhood and ask, “Whatever
happened to free?” I remember going to the
Museum of Science and Industry and Lincoln Park
Zoo for free. |
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At the risk of
drowning in the waters of nostalgia, I reflect on my own
childhood and ask, “Whatever happened to free?” I remember
going to the Museum of Science and Industry and Lincoln Park
Zoo for free. I remember spending all day at Summer
Recreation weaving pleather key chains and building Popsicle
stick birdhouses for free. I remember playing kickball,
roller skating on sidewalks, jumping double-dutch, and
dodging kisses from boys in a game of
Catch-a-girl-kiss-a-girl. Of course our parents spent a few
bucks on equipment and supplies; there were always book
rental fees, bike repairs, and crayons, for example.
However, in my neighborhood, parents were not paying for
cheerleading, bike riding, or arts and craft lessons.
Parents were not spending hundreds of dollars on
five-year-old birthday parties at Build-a-Bear and Discovery
Zone. Parents were not shelling out for kindergarten
graduation, elementary school yearbooks, and trophies for
Pee Wee Soccer. Now paying is the norm. Now paying is the
expectation.
.:read more:. |
Just about every
activity I want to do with my children costs money. Of course, we
can go to the library and play at the park for free. We can go to
the local art museum on Sundays for free. We can play board games
and watch PBS at home for free. We can even go to the buffet on
Mondays when children eat for free. Still, most of the stuff my kids
really enjoy has a lofty price tag attached to it. Jumping in the
inflatables at Jumping Beans: $5. Watching a movie at the matinee:
$6.00. Learning at Adventure Children’s Museum: $6.95. A Saturday
when I do not have to spend money: Priceless.
I realize that times change, but I also realize that we parents have
sold out our children’s childhood to the highest bidders. We are to
blame for the commercialization of fun. We assume that our own
childhoods were somehow inferior, and we overcompensate for our
sense of lack by buying “the good life” for our children. We tell
ourselves that our kids need all of this stuff to be competitive in
the new millennium. Yet, if we are honest with ourselves, we will
admit that V-Smile and Chuck E. Cheese are for us. We will admit
that we purchase pricy lessons for our children because we feel
guilty that we do not spend enough time with them. We will admit
that we pay through the nose for everything kiddie to make ourselves
feel better about our parenting.
We can ask ourselves, does paying truly alleviate those
insecurities? Do we feel better knowing that our child brought the
best snack or gave the best birthday gift?... I don’t. I feel
stressed and overwhelmed. I would rather boil some hotdogs, bake a
cake, and invite the neighborhood kids to play hide-n-seek in the
yard than to schedule a painting party at Artsy Me. I would rather
pull out my camera and take candids of my kids at play than to pay
for airbrushed professional photographs that fail to capture my
children’s spirits. I would rather hang a congratulations banner
over my porch than to buy a cap and gown for a kindergartener. I
would rather that I be the one to teach my children to swim, to
twirl a baton, or to skateboard than to sit on the sidelines and
watch my children discover life with someone I pay to do my job.
Let’s take back childhood. Let’s reject commercialism. Our best
childhood memories are usually the ones that cost our parents
nothing. Remember playing with the box in which the toy came? We owe
it to our children to free them up to simply enjoy being children.
Moreover, we owe it to ourselves to enjoy our children’s childhood
without worrying about how to pay for it.
Dr. Seretha D. Williams