Is It a Harmless Gift...or Is It an Indulgence?
THE JUGGLE ON SUNDAY, BY KATY MCLAUGHLIN
The Wall Street Journal
When we were dating and first married, one of my husband's most endearing habits was giving me spontaneous gifts. He came home with beautiful bouquets of roses, scrumptious spinach pie from a South American bakery and once a Norah Jones CD. At the time, these out-of-the-blue surprises struck me as the sweetest things in the world.
Enter two young children—our sons are 5 and 4—and the spontaneous gifts have become a flash point between Alejandro and me. Oh, don't get me wrong: I love when he brings me flowers, which he still does on occasion. But I have a big problem with the on-the-fly presents he showers on the kids. How can we teach the kids that they don't need things to make them happy if we are constantly giving them…things to make them happy?
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Alejandro has walked in the door with a huge Hot Wheels track under his arm, and with collectible red and silver model cars. He gets them a new soccer ball every few months. Whenever they serve cake at his office, he brings home two slices for the boys."Oh, great," I'll groan. "It's Christmas in July."
To read the entire article from The Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304070304577399712221041918.html?mod=WSJ_PersonalFinance_FamilyFinance
Inspirational Quotes@Inspire_Us from Twitter:
Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. -Confucius
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