Hi Ania -
The car thing defines and reflects so much of who we are! I remember when I traded in my SUV for a small sedan, my DH, who also has an SUV is amazed that I could prefer a smaller car. I told him I was sick of driving around inside a thing with more cubic feet of space than most people have in their homes! But that would mean taking a worldwide perspective, wouldn't it?
I was also saddened when the new Pokemon game came out. I was there with DS10, at 6am, to be sure he got his game. He had done "jobs" of all kinds, including emptying the dishwasher for 10 cents, learning vocabular words, 10 cents each, and "Handwriting without tears" - including some tears, for about a penny a minute. I was delighted to have a big enough motivator to get some "extras" in, and let him "early earliness minutes" after he had the money to get me out of bed earlier. All and all I was happy, until I got there and saw the other parents, who were there sleepy-eyed, with or without their boys, clearly picking up one or both of these games with no thought to even the pretense of the child using their "own money" or "own effort."
I consider that I was quite generous, and explained this to DS, in comparison to what my own parents would have done. He explained to me that he wasn't alive at that time, and while he appreciates that it's a strech for me, he feels that he should be compared to his lazy, spoiled, good-for-nothing peers. I'm not worried about my kid, but I do feel sorry for those other boys in line. There is something wonderful about setting a goal, working for it, and reaping to much coveted rewards. I fear that with Globalization of the Economy these same kids may well be living in their SUVs someday. ((shrug)) Maybe that won't be so bad, but I wonder who my kid is going to want to hang around with as these kids grow up?
I do think that volunteering helps. Maybe TV programs like the Trump reality show to see a different perspective about how people work together? Books and travel and friendships broaden one. Political action, letter writing, visits to the state capitol. In some way, I'm hoping that my son seeing me advocate for him and other gifted kids will "rub off" on him the idea that if something needs to be fixed, one talks and talks and talks about it with everyone one can find. He knows that I spend time here because I care about all of us and our families, I hope that helps....but mostly - I pray, because it's bigger than any one family.
