Things I Want To Teach My Kids

This could be a long blog I'm sure. There are so many things I want my kids to know. But a few have come to mind lately.

BUDGETING - Natalie wanted to get Mc Donald's the other day. I explained to her that I already spent all the money we had set aside for eating out, so if she wanted to eat out she could use some of her spending money (remember she has a save, spend, and God jar that she divides her allowance into). I told her she had $5 left and she could use that. She decided on a double cheeseburger and fries (gotta love the dollar menu). She asked about a drink, but I said we are eating at home so you have drinks there. I explained her items would be $2 so she would get $3 back. I added that we had Cheetos, her fave, at home, so if she wanted to have those and a drink with the burger she'd get $4 back. My lovely daughter said I'll just get the burger so I don't use as much of my money! Yay!

NOT BEING INSTANTLY GRATIFIED
Man, this is going to be a hard one. But as I was setting aside "junk" for the garage sale at church...man we have a lot of stuff. And I think I have a fairly uncluttered home too. But we just got a "new" tv stand from my parents and I needed a basket to put all our controllers in to "hide" them. I added it to the Walmart list, but then thought I'm SURE there is something in this house I can use. So I repurposed a few things. This then made me think about shopping with Natalie. She never has her spending money on her (unless we plan to go out and use it) so she's always asking me to buy her something. She hasn't really figured out she could ask me to buy it for her and then she can pay me back at home. BUT when she does, I'm going to say NO. She can go home and think about if she REALLY wants it. And what a great way to introduce the idea of not putting things on "credit". If you don't have the money on you, don't buy it! Hopefully I can get these concepts in at an early age and keep expanding on them.

MANAGING MOODS
So maybe I am moodier than I like to think I am. Now that I have a mini-me running around grunting, sighing, screaming...sigh...I'm really trying especially hard to tell her it's okay to be mad, but it's not okay to scream, hit, throw (yes, sometimes sewing gets the best of me). It's okay to be excited but it's not okay to be crazy and run screaming around (her, NOT me).

FOCUSING ON WHAT IS IMPORTANT
Right now I'm thinking about being on the phone/computer so much. It's hard when I'm trying to run a small buisness from home. I want to be able to be in touch immediately with customers. But, I also need to spend time with my kids and husband. I do NOT want to be one of those families walking around the store with both kids wrapped up in the phone. Really, it's not that important. Right? I grew up just fine without one. So I'm going to work on cutting back (hey Ryan's out and the kids are in bed so who cares if I'm on the computer now...)