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Is this the legacy we want to leave?
The real problem that needs to be fixed
My daughter could not believe that her father said that to her. In tears, she held back her frustration threatening to burst. I waited for her to calm down before I gave her my two-cents on the matter.
We were not a rich family by any means. Many kids meant many mouths to feed and sharing was a norm. It also meant that it was impossible to keep up with the Jones’ kid. So second hand and hand-me-downs was the way it went.
Hanging out with their friends, they got used to seeing how the other half lived. Their friends had all the latest toys, fashions, taxi rides as needed and no chores curtesy of mom and dad. They often came home with an armful of “gifts” that their friends no longer wanted.
So, you can imagine her frustration when her dad dared to call her spoiled. Her indignation was boiling over as all the times she had to beg for rides, wear her sister’s clothes and share a second hand iPod with her siblings came to mind. She was also a caring and giving person so spoiled was the remotest, most distant, furthest, rearmost adjective she would have ever used to describe her life.
I let her rant on till she got it all out. Once calm, I pointed out gently that while she did not have the life of her friends, she also…
