One of the very interesting things about this month is trying to talk with my teenage kids about what we are doing. In some ways, they are more into it than me. In others ... well, the friendly word "clueless" comes to mind! :)
For instance, one of my teenage daughters said to me two days ago, "Let's find out what a family of 5 would be given as far as food stamp allotment, and let's try to live on that amount when it comes to groceries this month." Great idea!!! I am proud of my daughter! So, she researches that. Turns out, a family of 5 would be given something like $610 in food stamps each month. She also looked up all the things we couldn't buy with that money and we decided to live within those same guidelines. It will be an interesting practice. After shopping yesterday, I had many thoughts about how difficult this would be over the long haul, but I'll save those for another post.
Back to the kid issue ... Not more than 30 minutes later, this same beautifual daughter was looking through a prom dress catalog that came in the mail (Hello! Can you say JANUARY!!!). I politely suggested she could consider wearing the same dress she wore last year. Wrong suggestion! The same girl who suggested we live on a food stamp budget for a month in order to better understand the plight of the poor, walked away from me in a huff. Sigh ... loser mom, again.
I do think one of the more difficult things as a Christian parent is trying to figure out how to deal with raising kids in this arena of life. How much to spend on them? How do you teach them about the value of a dollar? How do you explain to them that you are not going to purchase something for them they really want? How do you help them see how "rich" they are when they often feel like others have much more than them? How do you help them live into Jesus' hard teachings on money when no one else seems to even try?
I would love to hear what others have experienced with their children in this area.
alice
ps. So far I've spent about $60 on groceries ... but that is only because our cupboards and fridge were overflowing after the holidays ...
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1 comment:
Hooray that your daughter came up with the food stamp idea!! I'm curious what food stamps can and can't be used for. As a family of 6 we do not spend $610 at the grocery store most months. Of course I must credit that to Aldi. That place has saved us a significant amount of $ over the last few years and brought some simplicity to my grocery shopping experience as well...
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