The recent direction this thread has gone made me think of something that bothers me.
Recently in my city a lot of the peewee football teams have been fundraising. Now in my day we did all the cliche fundraising things. Car washes, we sold stuff, had raffles, etc. Well these kids and their parents have been just standing around street corner literally panhandling. They have their kids out on the street with signs just asking for money. No services. No car wash. Dub T Eff? When did this become cool? When did it become cool to teach your kids that it's ok to just ask for money and not try and work for it. What a horrible lesson these parents are teaching.
And this is what I can't understand. You only have so many years to instill so many lessons in a child. You have to start long before they start school. You have to lay the foundations of courage, hard work, the value of money, morals, ethics, a conscience, the difference between right and wrong and why, to be accountable and responsible for one's actions, caring for people and animals and why, setting and meeting goals, the feeling of earning something and accomplishment, the things that are worthwhile in life and those that aren't, determination and focus, values, helping others, how to face and overcome challenges and so much more. And you have to be the example. By the time they are teenagers, if you haven't already done all of this, it's just mostly too late.
Besides our regular daily and weekly chores that we had since I can remember, we as kids, all had part time jobs starting in junior high, delivering newspapers, doing errands, washing cars, mowing lawns, sweeping up and emptying trash at stores, selling things door to door, making/creating things and selling them, working at FBOs, just all kinds of odd jobs- some that we created and some that were more established. He gave us the discipline of saving, not pissing away money on frivolous things, giving a certain amount to a worthwhile charity or cause, and then the smallest percent went to our "mad money" that we could blow on fun things. I raised my children the same and they did the same with their kids which I have also helped to instill in my grand kids and my sister in law's kids.
My Father could have easily afforded to give us the latest whatever or the best whatever. But he didn't and for a reason. He gave us instead, a safe stable, loving family, a decent home to live in, taught us what we needed to do in life to succeed and survive, supported us emotionally, inspired us, demanded/expected that we do well in school, taught us a million life lessons, to earn and work for what we wanted, to enjoy life and it's journey, to be confident, to appreciate - truly appreciate what we did have, how to be well adjusted men and women and how to be decent human beings. It brought us closer as a family and all those ties, experiences and commonalities still bind us all together to this day. This is something that has no price and cannot be purchased or given to you by strangers. I carried all of that into my own life and when I became a Dad and now a Grand Dad. Thus far, it still works.
Life is difficult. It is full of roadblocks, disasters and dead ends. But, it is also full of joy, beauty, surprises and wonderful things. You need to be prepared for all that road has to offer, the journey along the way and the ability to cope/ adapt/deal with all of it.
I said it before in this thread and I'll repeat it, nothing of value is free and nothing of value that is not earned, is respected, admirable or appreciated.
