Thinking Things Through
Posted by John | Filed under Thinking Things Through
Under these posts we’ll have an opportunity to share our thoughts about our journeys and our growth. These questions will make you think. You don’t have to answer right away. Noodle for a while and then come back and jot down your ideas. Or start your own notebook where you track your journey privately. I’m hoping this will help to bring clarity to those who are struggling with the question, “What do I really, really want?”
This week:
37. Did you feel you had everything you needed and wanted as a child living at home or did you feel deprived?
Take your time and really think about this. If you think you know and want to respond right away, do so. But then come back in a couple of days, re-read your response (or review your response in your notebook) and see if you want to add, subtract, change anything. This is a journey and it is one that will help you uncover what is really important to you if you take time to think.
April 12, 2012 at 7:24 pm
Yes, I felt like I had everything I needed or wanted as a child. And what’s more important to me, I saw my parents give us everything without going into debt to do it.
April 14, 2012 at 5:20 pm
I had everything I needed, and a lot of things I wanted too. Sometimes I felt deprived, but now that I look back, I realize that my parents deprived themselves of a lot so that we could have more of our ‘wants’. We were always well fed (and more), we were always clothed, we got to participate in school activities that cost money, we had swimming and music lessons, we got to go to church camp and youth retreats (also cost $), went on family outings and trips, we received generous gifts at birthdays and Christmas (and at report card time, and on St. Nicholas’ day)…yikes, we had it good. I didn’t realize it at the time, but my parents never ate out for a date, they rarely bought themselves new clothes, they didn’t have costly (or any) hobbies…I wasn’t anywhere close to appreciative enough.
April 15, 2012 at 10:09 am
I feel that I had a fairly balanced upbringing. By some standards, spoiled, in others, not so much. My father was into computers as soon as they hit the market, so we were the “first” to own home computers. We also had a modem and the capability of doing research long before the “web” ever existed, back in the early 80’s. But that was dad’s interest, and we got to benefit from that as well. Same as the boat, and vacations. I had sole use of a car after high school, because my patents didn’t want the hassle of driving me everywhere. My parents also gave me a clothing allowance, about $150 twice per year, and I had to make it count. So, many would consider us spoiled, but my parents wanted things for themselves (but they never went out to eat, or spent money on clothes), and they also tried to teach us budgeting. I try to do the same with my children. My parents didn’t go into great debt, paying off their mortgage after 10 years, and never taking on car loans. Credit card debt was temporary.
April 19, 2012 at 7:47 pm
I did not have what I needed or wanted in my childhood. My parents separated when I was 8, I lived with my father (long story). My parents were terrible with money, revolving credit was their unfortunate answer. Irregular salary and poor choices, left just enough for housing and food. By the time I was 11 I needed to babysit to provide me with money to help pay for clothing. I worked part time from 15 on to pay for school costs, public transit and clothing. Life was difficult, but without that I would not be who I am today. We are debt free and working extremely hard to have the mortgage paid off in less than 6 years.