Don’t educate your children to be rich. Educate them to be happy. So when they grow up, they’ll know the value of things, not the price. ~Unknown.
I was out a few weekends ago, just shopping a little bit and looking at all the fall fashion trends. I had gone into a department store that had a department for children’s clothes/items. I was looking for a couple of things for two new babies born in our extended family.
I had gone into an area where they have a lot of toys for children and there was a woman trying very desperately to get a young boy to choose a specific toy.
She kept repeating over and over again, “Son, this one has to be better. It costs more and it looks better.”
I could hear him mumbling, “Mommy, I played with Steven’s toy and it was just like this. This is the one I want. Please!”
She pulled the toy out of his hands and in exasperation said, “Okay, but if we get home and it tears up because it is so cheap, I’m not buying the other one.”
He said, “Okay” in his sweet little voice. They went to the counter and I continued my shopping.
Often times children know better about the value of things than adults do. That’s because to them, there is no price tag on it. He already knew the value of the toy he wanted because he had already played with the very toy that his friend had. It didn’t matter that it was the “cheaper” toy to him. It was the best toy for him and it was the most valuable toy for him.
In today’s society, I see this so much. I see photos that people put up with money in their hands or stacked up with children in the photo taking everything in.
Kids today have to have the best phones, the best sneakers, the best jeans, the best jackets, the best everything. And to most of them, “best” means most expensive.
But what about value? Money doesn’t make you happy. As a matter of fact, the saddest people I know have a lot of money. And it’s because they don’t have true value in their life. What do the best phones, the best sneakers, the best jeans give you in life? It certainly isn’t happiness.
When children are taught to be happy–really happy–they learn to look for the value in things, not the price. And they pass this down to their own children.
Blessings to you!
Charity