Kids these days, huh? You give them the world, and they want more. As most of you know by now, we just celebrated Jax's 5th birthday. It's bittersweet. Glad to see who he is becoming, but sad to see he is growing up. I am pretty sure I don't remember my 5th birthday at all. I am sure it was a small party at home with my parents and grandparents, and maybe an aunt and an uncle. My hair was probably wild and unruly and I probably had on some horrible mismatched hand-me down clothing. I am sure my mom baked the cake herself, and that I got underwear and socks as gifts. It was simple. I am not saying there is anything wrong with any of this, or that I was ever deprived of anything, but it seems as though this simpleness I had growing up, has made me want more for my own kids. It has made me want better for them.
In contrast to my own (probable) 5th birthday, Jax had quite the bash. We had a big party at Incredible Pizza with numerous aunts, uncles, Nanas, Papas, cousins, and a few friends too. They got to play games for hours, won prizes, ate pizza and rice krispie treat cupcakes, and ice cream. Jax got nearly everything he wanted and then some. He got the skateboard he wanted, and games for his Leapster, numerous cool toys, and even a CAT (his first pet!) For his actual birthday day, I fixed one of his favorite meals -ribs and baked potatoes- for dinner. He got more cake and ice cream and even a few more gifts. His name was announced on the radio, and a poem that I wrote was even read on the radio. And Geoffrey the Giraffe from Toys R Us called and left a birthday message for him. You would think this would have been the best birthday ever for a 5 year old. But, at the end of the day when I asked him if he had a good birthday, his answer was "No." In my mind I am screaming at him!!! I could not think of a single thing that would make this a better birthday!! There was apparently one thing that he didn't have that would have made it all better. Candy. He didn't get to eat the candy he got.
So all the presents he got, the people that came, the decorations that I handmade (down to the cupcake wrappers), the special radio message, the money paid for the party, and all the planning that went into this, still made it a horrible-terrible-no-good-very-bad-birthday! All because he didn't get to eat his candy!!! Frustrating, to say the least!!
How do I give my children more than what I got as a child without making them ungrateful? I never want my children to go without. Not that I ever did, and if I did, I never knew it. But how do I make them realize they don't have to have everything to have everything? How do I make myself realize this?
