Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Comparison is the thief of joy.” All it takes is one night of scrolling on social media to see how true that statement is. It’s so easy to fall into the comparison game when you see families living lavish lifestyles online. I can’t scroll on Facebook without seeing friends on week-long Disney trips and family cruises, exotic beach vacations with all-inclusive everything, birthday parties that are bigger than weddings, and perfectly aesthetic playrooms full of every new gadget on the market.
How can you not question if you are giving your child enough?
It’s easy to fall down that rabbit hole and wonder, “Are we doing enough?” When I find myself questioning what we don’t have, I remind myself what our daughter does have. Here are four things she has that money can’t buy.
Patience
We live a comfortable life but we are definitely in the lower middle-class range, which means we don’t always have the money in our budget to give into our daughter’s every desire. Even if and when we do have the money, we think it’s important to teach her the value of that money and how to save and be patient when making purchases. Not only does she learn these important life lessons, but it helps her understand that, as we have all heard before, “Money doesn’t grow on trees”. This is a lesson she will learn over and over in life and that patience will serve her well.
Resourcefulness
Just last week, our daughter asked for a new album to house her growing Pokémon card collection. We sat down and looked up options on Amazon and then made a plan for her to save her chore money and purchase herself one in a few weeks. In the meantime, she started searching for things around the house to hold her cards until she saved enough money. It wasn’t long before she found an old empty photo album in the attic that she repurposed into a Pokémon card album. She decorated it herself and liked it so much that she decided to save her money and not order the new photo album. Win-win!
A Grateful Spirit
Our daughter passed a much-anticipated test recently with flying colors and we were thrilled. She has been asking for a mini fridge for months, so after school that day, we surprised her with a tiny mini fridge for her room. She was over the moon with the surprise and must have thanked us a million times! Seeing her understand the value of things and being grateful makes it much easier to want to spoil her when we can.
A Loving Home
We may not have huge 5-star vacations or elaborate birthday parties, but she has a home full of love, more than enough food and clothes, and plenty of toys. She has friends and family that love her, the rest is just unimportant stuff. We all are rich in so many ways.
The next time you find yourself falling down the comparison rabbit hole online, remember how many wonderful things you have in your home that money could never buy.
